


Changes

by someofthissomeofthat11011



Series: Guardian Angel [3]
Category: Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-31
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2017-12-31 02:42:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 43
Words: 49,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1026332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someofthissomeofthat11011/pseuds/someofthissomeofthat11011
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With two new mouths to feed and a little one on the way, Rose and Dimitri have their hands full. What will happen when something strange starts happening to Lissa?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I can't believe election day is already here. Lissa passed all three of the tests along with Marie Conta and Rufus Tarus. They are the only three candidates and I hope with all my heart that Lissa will be named queen. She would be much better than Rufus Tarus. I would be okay with Marie Conta, but she doesn't put any energy or emotion behind her beliefs. She's pretty boring.

Dimitri and I were sitting in the crowd with our babies. Miraculously, I had the day off and Christian was sitting next to Dimitri, so he was technically guarding him. We were attracting a lot of stares, but we didn't care. We had never been happier. Since I told Dimitri I am pregnant, he has been ecstatic. I don't think he's capable of wiping the smile off his face.

Our girls sat in one of those double carriage things. They were both bundled up. Even though it was summertime, we wanted to make sure they were protected. Lera was in purple and Mila was in yellow. They lay side by side, fast asleep.

Dimitri held my hand as we watched our babies sleep. I wish I could make this moment last forever.

Unfortunately, something called reality set in and Tatiana stepped up onto the stage. "Welcome," she said in a loud voice that echoed across the huge room. "We are gathered here today to elect your future king or queen. Over the past week, the candidates before you have proved their worth through a series of tests. They have proved that they have the wits, courage, and ability to sufficiently rule our people. Now it is time for you, the moroi and dhampir people to decide your future. Rufus Tarus. Marie Conta. Vasilisa Dragomir." The candidates stood up as she called their names. "You will now have the opportunity to get to know our candidates better. Rufus Tarus will deliver the first speech. You may step to the podium."

Tatiana sat down as Rufus Tarus approached the podium. I honestly couldn't pay attention to most of his speech. He came up with some ridiculous ideas that involved dhampirs starting school when they learn to walk and them sleeping less. He also played dirty. He bashed the other candidates. He played on Lissa's youth and Marie's inexperience. It was low of him and only showed how scared he was. He knew he didn't have a chance to beat Lissa if he didn't point out her weaknesses.

I think his antics had the opposite effect. I heard many people grumble about how it was wrong for him to put down his opponents and not acknowledge his own faults. I grinned to myself as I watched Rufus dig himself into a bigger hole. One he would not easily be able to get out of. I could only hope the council agrees with the people.

Rufus Tarus finished up his speech and Marie Conta took the stage. Her speech was very dry. Her ideas were good, but she lacked the necessary enthusiasm. I actually fell asleep during her speech and Dimitri had to wake me up. Needless to say, he spent the rest of her speech keeping me awake.

Then it was Lissa's turn. I listened to her speech with rapt attention. I may be a little bit biased, but she was definitely the best. People wanted to hear her speak and she motivated them. She made them want to follow them. She didn't need spirit. Her natural charisma made her perfect.

When Lissa finished, she was met with the loudest applause yet. I think everyone at Court could probably hear it. I looked at our babies concerned, but they managed to sleep through the noise. How? I have no idea. Even I don't sleep that deeply.

When the noise died down, Tatiana approached the podium. One by one, she called the candidates back up and a member of their family joined them. When all three candidates were standing before us with their family 'quorum', Tatiana addressed the crowd. "If you have any objections with one of these candidates, you will have the opportunity to address the council now. You will also have the opportunity to praise a candidate and explain to the council why you think they are the best moroi for this position. Rufus Tarus please step forward," Tatiana called. "It is now time for the people to decide whether they believe Rufus Tarus would be the most efficient ruler of the moroi world. My only request is that you are respectful and polite when addressing the council."

Hundreds and hundreds of people lined up to proclaim their views on Rufus Tarus. Luckily most of them just said things like 'I don't like him,' or 'His beliefs will get us nowhere.' There were only a couple of people, mainly royals that actually took time addressing the council. Only the member of the Tarus family actually had anything nice to say about him. I grinned to myself. If he was elected, he was going to have a lot of problems with his people.

When the last person had finally gone, Tatiana approached the podium. "Does anyone have anything further to say? Speak now or forever hold your peace?" She said loudly.

"Is someone getting married?" I whispered to Dimitri in amusement.

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by someone shrieking. Not just anyone, one of our babies. She was crying bloody murder. Her face was almost purple with all the screaming she was doing.

I picked her up and she immediately calmed down. "It's okay Mila," I whispered to her. "Everything's going to be okay." Dimitri stroked her cheek lovingly. Mila was still crying a little bit, but not like before. I took a light whiff and made a face. Definitely in need of a diaper change. I looked up and realized all eyes were on me. I held my head high and looked towards the queen. "I don't think she likes him," I said loudly.

Tatiana looked at me with disapproval, but I could see the amusement behind her expression. Several people in the crowd chuckled. Rufus Tarus, however, did not find my joke very funny. He was sending me death glares. I couldn't figure out why. It's not like I, a lowly dhampir would have any impact on how the elections turn out.

"If no one had anything else to say, we will move on to our next candidate," Tatiana declared.

I stood up and grabbed the diaper bag. Holding my baby carefully, I walked off to the nearest bathroom. I quickly changed her diaper, something I had gotten quite good at since yesterday. I swear, she pees or poops every hour! Dimitri and I are single handedly ensuring the financial stability of diaper companies everywhere. We have gone through almost two packs of diapers since they came home yesterday. I told Dimitri I think we're changing them too much. He disagreed.

When I returned, Dimitri was holding Lera, trying to keep her calm. I internally sighed as we swapped babies. "If I miss Lissa's turn…" I trailed off, letting him use his imagination.

He gulped. "Hurry and you won't," he pointed out.

I went to the bathroom and changed Lera's diaper. I made it back just as Tatiana was asking if anyone else wanted to speak on behalf of Marie.

Then it was Lissa's turn.


	2. Chapter 2

I sat on the edge of my seat as almost everyone in the room took the opportunity to address the council. The only people that had anything bad to say were the Conta's and the Tarus's. And there were only a few of them. I could see Lissa's smile becoming bigger with every person. They were proving to her that she could be an amazing queen. She was starting to feel worthy of her position.

As her smile increased, so did mine. As soon as it started, it was over. She clearly had more supporters than any other moroi, but time flew by.

The members of the moroi council went off to take their vote. The Dragomirs were still not being represented, because Jill was too young and Lissa was a candidate. The queen also wasn't allowed to vote which left eleven members on the council.

While they were gone, I turned to Dimitri. "Do you think she'll be elected?" I asked him nervously.

"I'm sure she will be. No one in their right mind would think that someone else could be a better candidate," he told me. He kissed Mila's forehead and put her back in her seat. I did the same to Lera. They both fell fast asleep. After another thirty minutes, I started to become impatient.

I clutched Dimitri's hand in my own. "I'm scared for her," I admitted.

"It will be okay Roza. It will be okay," he promised me. He kissed my cheek.

"Do you think that when she's queen, she'll be able to stop my mom from killing me?" I asked him jokingly.

"Your mom is not going to kill you when she finds out your pregnant," Dimitri said for the thousandth time since we found out that I'm pregnant.

"Oh yes she is. She is going to kill me for getting pregnant at eighteen," I told him with a small frown. "She had me when she was twenty and she obviously regretted it her whole life."

"She was in an entirely different situation," Dimitri pointed out. "I am not part of the Russian mafia, so I will be here every step of this pregnancy and for every second of our child's life."

"That doesn't mean my mother is going to be okay with it," I pointed out. "Hell, Lissa might kill me when she finds out that I've kept this from her."

We had decided not to tell Lissa until after the elections. We wanted a couple of days to revel in the miracle that occurred and we didn't want to distract her from all of her preparation. "Lissa won't kill you either. Though she might deafen you," he said, wincing slightly.

I grinned. I knew he was remembering the first time Lissa saw the babies. She came with us to the hospital one day. She squealed so loudly, Dimitri claims he can still hear the ringing in his ears. I do admit that she was very loud. "I'll get you sound proof headphones," I told him jokingly.

"I think I would still hear her," he pointed out.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Maybe she'll deafen my mom so she can't kill me," I said hopefully.

Dimitri rolled his eyes. "Your mom is not going to kill you. We're married and we are starting our life together," he pointed out. "Isn't that usually how it works? You fall in love, get married, and have kids?"

"Not when your both guardians," I retorted. "The whole kids thing isn't supposed to happen. Everyone will probably think I cheated on you."

"We'll get through this together. That I can promise you. Nothing can hurt you while I'm here," he promised.

I leaned my head on his chest. I closed my eyes, reveling in the peace of the moment.

My peace was short lived as the council finally returned from their meeting room. "We have come to a decision," one of the moroi declared.

That's when all hell broke loose.

A bunch of figures in all black burst into the hall. I knew they weren't Strigoi, because I didn't feel nausea, but I could see from the way they were moving that they weren't friendly. I jumped to my feet and ran to protect Lissa. I got there just in time to stop the person trying to tackle her. I rammed into their side, throwing them off balance. From their jerky moves and their height, I could tell that they were moroi. They tried to kick me in my stomach, but I backed up just in time.

Shit! If they kick my stomach, it could hurt my baby. I locked eyes with Dimitri for a moment, silently communicating with him. I saw understanding flash in his eyes. Then I turned back to the moroi. The next time they tried to kick me, I grabbed their foot. They lost balance and fell to the ground. Another moroi in all black came at me from the side. I grabbed the moroi that was down and slammed their head into the ground, causing them to lose consciousness.

One thing we had always been taught was how to distinguish between killing someone and incapacitating them. I was not fighting to kill. I could see other guardians using similar techniques.

I turned to my next threat, constantly shielding my stomach. Another moroi came up and now I was fighting both of them. I was tiring quickly and one of them got through my defenses. I saw both of them prepare to kick my sides, but I couldn't stop both of them. I blocked one and I braced myself for the impact from the other, but it never came. Dimitri quickly pinned them to the ground, choking off their airway until they lost consciousness. He then helped me with the moroi I was fighting. When that was done, he looked me over to make sure I didn't have any gaping wounds. I did the same to him. We scanned the rest of the room, trying to find anymore threats. About fifteen or so moroi were being restrained my guardians while at least ten other were lying unconscious on the floor.

Dimitri looked at me relieved. "Come on," he urged me. "We need to make sure the baby wasn't hurt."

"You're pregnant?" Lissa asked shocked.


	3. Chapter 3

I looked at Lissa nervously. Her expression was torn between excitement and anger. I could only hope excitement would win out in the end. Now that the moroi that had attacked were restrained and being led out, we had the entire room's attention. Dimitri clutched my hand in his. He was clearly out of his comfort zone with everyone staring at him.

"I… uh…" I started, not really sure what to say.

Anger finally won out. "How could you not tell me? I'm your best friend! Didn't you think I had the right to know?" She asked angrily.

"Of course Liss…" I started.

"Then why wouldn't you tell me? You know how much this means! You're having a baby!" Lissa squealed excitedly.

"We were planning on telling you after elections. We didn't want to distract you," I admitted a little guiltily. It was the first time I had said I was pregnant and I could hear the whispers through the crowd. I could hear them calling me a blood whore and a slut. It was common knowledge that dhampirs couldn't have babies with other dhampirs, so I shouldn't have gotten as mad as I did. It was like one of my old rages when I consumed spirit's darkness. I took deep breaths to control my anger.

"Do you know what this means? I'll be able to study them and see if they can conceive with dhampirs when their older. The possibilities are endless. I wonder if they'll be different from a normal dhampir," Lissa said. I don't think she was even paying attention to me at that point, because if she was I'm pretty sure she would be quivering.

"My baby is not some science experiment," I told her through gritted teeth. I gave up on trying to control my anger. She was talking about my baby as if they were a lab rat.

"I know Rose. The baby is not going to be an experiment, but this baby will be one of a kind. Think of everything we can learn from them," she said, oblivious to the anger radiating off of me. I wasn't sure if I was about to freak out on Lissa or the annoying crowd and I never had to make the decision.

Dimitri stepped in front of me. "No one will lay a finger on my baby," he said in a warning voice. This crowd went silent at Dimitri's assertion that it was his baby.

"This could change our whole world and you're going to selfishly keep it to yourselves?" Lissa asked as if she couldn't believe her ears.

"Is that why you helped me get pregnant? So you could study my baby? No! They're mine," I spat out at her. I started to walk towards her, but warm arms wrapped around my stomach.

"Roza, you need to calm down. This isn't good for the baby," Dimitri whispered to me in a soothing voice.

That was the only thing that could have reached me. I took deep breaths to control my anger. The baby. The baby, I kept chanting in my head. You have to control your anger for the babies sake.

Lissa misread my suddenly calm demeanor. "See, I knew you would see reason. It was just your pregnancy hormones talking. I knew you weren't selfish enough to keep this discovery from the moroi world," she said confidently.

That's when I snapped. "I didn't change my mind you bitch. Let me tell you something. This baby is going to be treated like any other baby. I will not have you treating it any differently. I don't care that they have two dhampir parents. I will not have them being observed and watched. Mine and Dimitri's lives are not for you to mess with. I thought you helped us get pregnant because you cared. Not for your own personal gain. I should have known better. After all this is Lissa's world and everything revolves around Lissa," I yelled angrily. Dimitri started to pull me off the stage. "I wouldn't expect you to understand in your perfect little world, but real people have to make sacrifices. I know that's a foreign concept to you, but newsflash, people don't always get their way. And Liss? There is no way in heaven, hell, earth, or anywhere that you are getting your way on this."

I finished my rant and allowed Dimitri to drag me from the room. I was still fuming. We went to the clinic, unsure if they would be able to do anything because I was only about a month along.

Dimitri didn't say anything the entire walk to the clinic and one look at his face told me why. He was angry… no he was beyond angry. He looked scary. I knew he wasn't angry at me, he was angry at Lissa.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to him once we were sitting in the clinic.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked me, trying to hide his anger from me.

"If I had just controlled my damn temper," I started to tell him.

"It's not your fault. My control almost snapped and we both know how much more self-control I have than you," he pointed out.

"Really? You have more self-control? That's not the impression I got," I told him with a wink.

I saw him groan, but it achieved what I wanted to. He was momentarily distracted. "Roza, my self-control is a hundred times better than yours," he said amused.

"Care to test that theory?" I asked him grinning.

He groaned. "Roza…" He glanced around the clinic as if just realizing we were in a fairly crowded area.

"I'll take that to mean later," I told him smugly.

He rolled his eyes. "This does not mean you have better self-control," he warned.

"Whatever you say Comrade," I taunted. I knew I was pushing buttons, but it's not like we have a lot of free time to ourselves. Not with two babies… I sat up in my seat abruptly and turned to Dimitri terrified. "Where are Mila and Lera?" I asked him panicked.

"Mia is taking care of them," he explained to me, trying to call me down. "Being pregnant, I knew you would need help, so when I saw Mia, I asked her and Christian to watch the babies. I figured a fire-using moroi and a moroi who has trained with guardians would be able to keep them safe."

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. "Christian isn't going to go see Lissa with the babies, is he?" I asked him immediately panicked.

Dimitri looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "He saw what happened on the stage. I don't think he would do that. He would probably ask Mia to take care of both the babies before he went to see Lissa. He respects you and cares for you enough to do that," Dimitri said soothingly.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Rosemarie Hathaway," one of the nurses called out.

"It's Belikov," Dimitri and I said at the same time. We briefly made eye contact and smiled at each other.

We stood up hand in hand and went to find out about our baby. We could only hope that the baby was okay. Hope is a strong thing and somehow, I just knew everything would be okay.


	4. Chapter 4

We walked back to our apartment hand in hand. We were disappointed, but not surprised. They wouldn't be able to tell us if the baby was damaged in the attack yet. If I have any unexplained bleeding I have to be rushed back to the clinic, but other than that, they said as long as I didn't take any serious hits, the baby should be fine. We would be able to tell for sure in one month when we get our first ultrasound.

"Don't worry about this. You said you feel fine, right?" Dimitri asked. I couldn't bring myself to speak, so I just nodded. "The baby will be fine. If you start to feel weird, you have to tell me, but I just know our baby will be okay."

I gulped and nodded, still unable to talk. Dimitri stopped and turned so he was standing directly in front of me. "The baby will be fine Roza. You have to believe that," he said soothingly.

"What if it's not? What if I hurt them because I was impulsive and I jumped up onto that stage?" I asked him. I hadn't meant for the question to come out, but it did.

"Roza. You were doing your duty. If you hadn't jumped up onto that stage, you would feel even guiltier. Besides, I watched you. You did an amazing job protecting your stomach. That baby is fine. And they will have the best mother in the world," he promised me.

"Best father in the world too," I told him. I was suddenly happy. I knew he wouldn't lie to me and his words went a long way to make me feel better. He grabbed my hand and we resumed walking.

My spirits immediately dropped once our apartment came into view. Or rather the person sitting on our apartment steps. I didn't really want to talk to Lissa unless she was going to apologize. I glanced at Dimitri uneasily.

He looked back at me. "What are you going to do?" He asked me quietly.

"I'm going to ignore her. I'm not ready to talk to her yet. Besides, the doctor said to rest," I told him.

I could see he didn't think that was the best idea, but he respected me enough to go along with it. We were almost to our steps when Lissa spoke. "Rose, can I talk to you?" She asked.

I internally groaned. I was so not ready for this. Dimitri turned to me. I could see the question in his eyes. I took a deep breath then nodded towards him.

"I'm going to go get Mila and Lera from Mia," he told me kissing my forehead. "Call me if you have a problem. I'll be back as soon as possible," he whispered so Lissa couldn't hear me.

"I will. I love you. Hurry back," I told him. I leant up on my tippy toes and gave him a quick kiss then walked towards our door. I pulled out my key and when I opened the door, Lissa followed me in without waiting for me to invite her in.

I went to sit down on the couch and looked at her expectantly. There was a long moment of awkward silence. "Rose, I'm sorry for upsetting you before," Lissa said quietly. "It's just, when I found out you were pregnant, I was so happy. This was revolutionary for me. I have unlocked another secret of spirit. Your baby is one of a kind and it excited me to know that I did that. Of course I'm happy for you and I should have realized that since you're pregnant, your hormones are out of control. I don't blame you for lashing out like you had. You weren't thinking strait."

My jaw dropped. Not thinking strait? "What are you talking about Liss?" I asked her confused. I was struggling to keep my voice calm, because I really didn't want to fight with Lissa.

"Well I understand that the only reason you acted so defensively was because of the pregnancy hormones," Lissa said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I took a deep breath and pulled out my phone. Get back here before I do something I regret. I sent that message to Dimitri. I needed him by my side or who knows what I will do. I turned to Lissa trying to remain calm. "Lissa, I did not react like that because of my pregnancy hormones. I reacted like that because there is no way in hell you are getting anywhere near my baby. It's not something I am comfortable with," I told her in a calm voice.

Lissa looked at me shocked. "How could you deny me this? For years, I thought I was a freak. And now that I'm discovering more and more about spirit you're going to stop me from learning more about this particular aspect?" She asked as if she couldn't believe her ears.

"Yes. My baby is not an experiment. He or she is a miracle," I said. I heard the front door open. Thank god Dimitri was back.

"I am the reason your pregnant in the first place. You owe me," Lissa said in a soothing voice. That seemed like the most rational thing in the world. I do owe Lissa.

"How dare you use compulsion on my wife?" I heard Dimitri yell. It effectively cleared the haze. I stared at Lissa feeling shocked and betrayed.

"I can't believe you just tried to use compulsion on me. Friends don't use compulsion on friends," I said, trying to hide my tears. I couldn't believe she would have done that.

"If you were my friend, you wouldn't deny me this right! You wouldn't try and prevent me from learning more about myself," Lissa retorted. Tears were falling down her cheeks.

"Get out," Dimitri said in a threatening voice. Lissa looked like she was going to argue, but she took one look at Dimitri's face and fled the room. I waited until I heard the front door close behind me to let the sobs out. Dimitri was by my side in a second.

"It's okay Roza," he told me soothingly. He sat down next to me and wrapped his arms around me. I sobbed into his shirt. I heard footsteps in the apartment and I looked at Dimitri concerned, tears still streaming from my eyes. "It's Mia," he explained. "When I got that text from you, she offered to come with me. She's going to put the babies in their cribs."

I nodded, trying to quiet my sobs and calm down. It didn't work. "I can't believe she did that," I sobbed.

"It will be okay Roza. Lissa will realize that what she did was wrong," Dimitri promised me.

I shook my head. "Dimitri, this baby isn't safe here. I thought I would be able to have Lissa's help in keeping them safe, but I don't even have that. What are we going to do? Two of us can't take care of a baby on top of Mila and Lera," I cried.

"We'll figure it out Rose," he promised me. "If we have to, we'll leave until you have the baby. Or we could get jobs as court patrol so we can arrange it so one of us is always with the baby. We'll figure it out Roza. I promise."

I clutched him as close to me as possible. I knew with him by my side, we could do anything.


	5. Chapter 5

Three days after the attack, Council reconvened to announce who the new moroi monarch was. Lissa was still favorited and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing anymore.

Dimitri and I were sitting obediently in the audience. Dimitri was here to protect Christian. I was here, because I didn't want to spend a single second away from Dimitri and our babies. Dimitri was gently bouncing Lera in his lap. It's amazing how quickly the babies grow. Mila was asleep in my arms and I had no intention of putting her down any time soon.

As the council walked across the stage, I held my breath. I no longer knew who I wanted to win. Dimitri grabbed my free hand and squeezed it gently.

"We have elected your new monarch," one of the council members proclaimed loudly. "We have given careful consideration to all of the statements you , the people, have made. Vasilisa Dragomir has been deemed the most competent candidate. The coronation will occur in five days. We hope regardless of whether you are moroi or dhampir, you will join us in the ceremony to welcome your new queen."

I was squeezing Dimitri's hand so hard; I was surprised I didn't break anything. Dimitri didn't look any happier than I did. I didn't know what Lissa would do now that she was queen. Little did I know I would soon find out.

Dimitri and I settled Mila and Lera into the stroller, eager to get out of the crowded room. Lissa caught up before we could escape… I mean leave.

"Have you given any further thought to my offer?" She asked hopefully.

"There was nothing to think about. Our answer will not change," I told her annoyed. Could she get a clue?

"I hate to do this Rose, but if I have to, I will order you to do this. I would rather you do this on your own free will, but if you refuse, I won't let your selfishness get in the way of what I need," Lissa warned. My jaw dropped. I looked at Lissa, but in that moment, I didn't recognize her. I couldn't find my best friend.

"What is going on with you? This isn't like you!" I said sadly.

"I'm sorry Rose, but I can't let you keep me from something like this. As your queen, you have to do as I command. I understand that you want to protect your baby, but no harm will come to them. I need to know what effects spirit had on it," she said desperately.

I looked at Dimitri and we passed a million silent messages between one another. Dimitri started to walk away with the babies. I knew he hated to leave me, but he had to. I also knew Lissa wouldn't notice him leaving which would give him more time to prepare.

I pretended to take a moment to calm myself down. "Find some other test subject. You will not be using my baby," I warned her.

"Rose your baby is one of a kind. There's no one else like them," she told me. I saw Dimitri leave the room and internally breathed a sigh of relief.

"We'll see your highness," I said in my bitchiest voice.

I turned my back and walked away from her as quickly as possible. I knew she was going to follow me, so I went in the opposite direction Dimitri had gone in. I scanned the crowd, desperately trying to find the one face I was looking for. I found Sonya and quickly walked over to her. She took one look at my face and understood. "Oh Rose. Be safe," she warned me. Then she pulled me into a huge hug. "I'm sorry this happened to you," she whispered to me.

After several moments, I broke the hug. "Bye Sonya," I whispered. I walked away before she could see me cry. I saw Sonya leave her seat out of the corner of my eye. I knew exactly where she was going, but I couldn't watch. I needed to find someone else.

And finally I saw them. Abe Mazur was standing casually against the wall in a deep blue suit with a black and silver tie around his neck. I went straight up to him. Like with Sonya, he understood exactly what was going on after one look at my face. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," he said sadly.

"Me too Dad. Me too," I admitted sadly.

He pulled out a manila envelope and handed it to me. "Be safe," he told me. "You know you could always call me if you need anything."

I couldn't hide my tears anymore. "I will," I promised him. "Dad, thank you for everything. This wouldn't be possible without you." A single tear escaped from his eyes as he pulled me into a hug and for a few moments, I reveled in our father-daughter time. I could pretend I was a normal girl hugging her dad. Too soon it had to end and I came back to reality.

Someone tapped on my shoulder. I span around, terrified it was Lissa. When I saw it was my mother, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh honey," she said, pulling me into a hug. It was a quick hug. "Go," she urged. "He's waiting."

I nodded to her. "I love you. Both of you," I told them before I walked towards the doors. I turned around one last time before I walked out. I saw Sonya and a couple of guardians distracting Lissa. She was scanning the crowd for me, but couldn't find me. Good.

I walked out. Dimitri was waiting outside in one of the Court SUV's. I had no doubt that the trunk was filled with our suitcases. We had most of our stuff packed. We knew this was a possibility and had prepared for it. We had talked to Sonya who had agreed to distract Lissa. My father was sponsoring our trip. He had already bought us plane tickets just in case. That's what was in the manila envelope.

We drove up to the front gate. Mikhail glanced around before he opened the gates for us. "Good luck," he whispered to us. I gave him a small, sad smile.

We drove past the gates and we didn't look back. We set on our way, facing the biggest change of our lives.


	6. Chapter 6

Dimitri and I sat in separate rows on the plane. Each of us had a sleeping baby next to us. I turned in my seat so I could face Dimitri. He looked like he was sleeping and I couldn't help but admire the peace and happiness on his features.

"Roza," he moaned. I flinched, thinking I had been caught. Then I realized he was dreaming. I stifled the giggle that threatened to escape me. "Oh Roza," he moaned again.

Uh oh. I reached over and shook Dimitri lightly. He was instantly awake. He looked around, ready for any threat. When he couldn't find anything, he looked at me confused. "There are babies present. Let's keep it G rated, shall we," I teased.

He looked confused for a moment then realization dawned on him. His cheeks flushed red and he averted his gaze. I couldn't help my giggle that time.

The flight attendant came over. She was of course tall and beautiful. She looked annoyed at me leaning over in my chair to talk to Dimitri. "I'm sorry Miss, but you cannot lean over in the seat like that. It is against the flight regulations," she said in a bitter voice. "You shouldn't bother the people sitting behind you. It's rude." Dimitri shot me a look that said calm down. I took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. I just needed to talk to my husband," I said to her, emphasizing husband.

She made a face at me. She glanced at Dimitri then back at me. "He's your husband for now," she whispered. I had to hold myself back so I wouldn't punch her. If I didn't know with my entire soul that Dimitri was always going to be with me, she would have a broken nose right now. "You cannot lean over the chair like that," she said louder. "It's the rule. Follow it or…"

"Or what?" I asked cutting her off. "Are you going to make me jump off the plane?"

A different flight attendant came over. She was a friendly looking, middle-aged woman. "Is everything all right over here?" She asked.

The flight attendant that had just been harassing turned to the older one with a huge smile on her face. "I was just alerting one of our patrons that she cannot lean over her seat to harass the person sitting behind her. She refused and started harassing me," the girl explained. I could feel the anger seeping in. My control really wasn't that good.

Before I got the opportunity to yell at her and explain what happened, Dimitri took control. "With all due respect Miss, my wife was simply checking in on me and one of our newborn daughters. It's their first time on a plane and my wife is a little nervous about it," Dimitri explained in a soothing voice. He gestured to Mila who was fast asleep right next to him. "I can assure you that she was not harassing me, nor was she harassing you." He turned to the middle-aged flight attendant. "Miss, I am not usually one to point fingers, but it was very unprofessional of her to accuse my wife of harassing me. Furthermore, she told my wife something that I know greatly upset her. When my wife explained that she was simply leaning over in her seat to talk to me, her husband, she told my wife that I was only her husband for now. That is not something I appreciated and I know it greatly upset my wife."

I stared at Dimitri shocked. Could he have called me his wife more in one sentence? The middle-aged flight attendant looked at the blonde bimbo with disapproval. "We will discuss this later Charlotte," she warned. The blonde flight attendant nodded and then walked away. "We unfortunately cannot have you leaning over the seat like that; however, I do understand how nerve-wracking it can be the first time you're on a plane with a baby. If you want, we can flip the seat so you are facing one another." I looked at Dimitri to see if he understood, but he looked as confused as I did.

I looked at the flight attendant uncertainly. "Please stand up," she said. I carefully picked up Lera and then stood up.

She did this magical thing with the seats so they were now facing Dimitri. I stared at her shocked. "Thank you," I told her.

"Let me know if you need anything else," she said warmly and walked away. I settled Lera into her seat and put Mila next to her so I could snuggle into Dimitri's chest.

"I didn't know airplane seats could do that," I told him, still kind of surprised.

"Me neither," he admitted.

We sat in a peaceful silence, watching our baby girls sleep. I watched them and I could only hope I made the right decision. This was bigger than me. I had to keep two babies safe. "What's bothering you Roza?" Dimitri asked me softly.

I glanced at him nervously then looked away. "Did we do the right thing?" I asked him.

"Roza, we did the only thing we could. I don't know what's going on with Lissa, but it's not good. We can't let her hurt our baby," he said putting his hand on my stomach.

"But that's just the thing. Lissa's not usually like this. I can't help but think I should have stayed and helped her through this," I admitted.

"You couldn't. You have to think about the innocent life you are carrying. You couldn't stay and protect Lissa, because you have to protect yourself first," Dimitri told me.

What he was saying made sense, but I just couldn't help but feel guilty. "What kind of life am I subjecting my children to?" I asked him sadly.

"A life where the baby your carrying won't be treated like a science experiment. A life where are children aren't just the daughters two dhampirs adopted. We're not going to stay away forever, but we are going to make sure our children are safe before we go back," he told me strongly. There was such strong conviction behind his words, I couldn't help but believe him.

I nodded then snuggled closer into his chest. He kissed my forehead softly. "They are the most important things right now," I told him quietly.

"Exactly. And you are doing what's best for them," he reassured me.

I smiled at him. "And what's best for us," I said honestly.

He frowned slightly. "How so?" He asked me curiously.

"We would be under as much speculation as the baby would. I would be the dhampir that cheated on her husband. And now, you will get the opportunity to be there every step of my pregnancy and you will get to be there when the baby is born. You wouldn't get that opportunity here at Court," I explained.

He grinned at me. "I can't say I'm upset about that. There's nothing more that I want than to be with you and the baby," he said truthfully.

"We're going to make that happen," I promised him. "We're going to be a family."


	7. Chapter 7

Our plane touched down in Novosibirsk, Russia. It was another four hour drive, but finally we were pulling up to Dimitri's family's house. The car ride was absolute hell. Mila and Lera cried the whole way there. I think they must have been uncomfortable in the car because they were fine on the plane. We fed and changed them in the airport. I tried to calm them down, but it was impossible. I was extremely grateful when we saw the Belikov's house.

With our rushed preparations, we didn't exactly have time to alert the Belikovs that we were coming. I don't think they even know that we adopted two babies and they definitely didn't know that I was pregnant.

We had time our trip so that we arrived as the sun was rising. The Belikovs were on a human schedule so we knew they would just be waking up. Olena would be awake by now and knowing her, once she saw us the whole house would be awake.

Dimitri gently knocked on the door. Sure enough, Olena was the one that answered it. Dimitri and I were standing in front of her each holding a baby. Olena gasped when she saw the babies.

"Oh who are these?" She asked in a loud voice.

"This is Mila," Dimitri said, motioning to the baby in his arms. "And that is Lera. They are our daughters. I would rather explain everything when the whole family is present."

"Of course," Olena agreed. "The babies can stay in the nursery with Alexie and Zoya." I grinned as I remembered Alexie. He was such a cute baby. Sonya had managed to get him into a little baby tuxedo for our wedding.

I looked at Dimitri nervously. I wasn't sure if he would want the babies to stay with us. He nodded at me to show me that would be fine. I did a victory dance in my head. I think I would appreciate the alone time with Dimitri. "Thank you… Mom," I said gratefully. I figured I should try calling her mom now. In a strange way, it felt right.

Olena's eyes watered up when I called her mom. "Oh Rose," she sobbed. She threw her arms around me. Lera started crying when she got uncomfortable. Olena back off and gave me an apologetic look. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," I said trying to hide my laughter. Dimitri and I made our way to the nursery. There were two extra cribs in there. I turned to Olena confused. "Did you know we were coming?"

Olena shook her head. "We found out a couple of days ago. Viktoria is having twins," Olena explained. "After her appointment, she insisted on getting the cribs. They came in yesterday and Sonya and Karolina helped her set up them up. "She's not due for another four months, but she insisted."

"I guess it's a good thing that she did," I admitted with a small grin.

"How long are you two staying for?" Olena asked curiously.

I bit my lip and looked at Dimitri uncertainly. "Actually, we really need to talk to you about that," Dimitri admitted nervously. I knew he hated to intrude on his family, but we really didn't have much of a choice. At least for now. We didn't know how long it was going to take to find an apartment close by.

We settled the babies into their cribs. They were exhausted from crying for four hours so they immediately fell asleep.

"I'll be in the living room," Olena told us as she left the nursery.

"We should tell her now," I whispered to Dimitri once she was gone.

"I thought we agreed to wait until the whole family was here," he whispered back.

"I know, but I think she deserves to know what happened with Lissa. The rest of your family doesn't need to hear that," I explained.

He looked at me with a sad expression. "You're still trying to protect her aren't you?" He asked me.

I knew exactly what he was talking about. I dropped my head. "She isn't normally like this. I can't bear for everyone to think badly about her. I'm angry for what she did, but not enough that I would intentionally ruin her reputation. Especially when it will hurt her when she gets over this," I explained.

"But Roza, what if this is her?" Dimitri asked me sadly.

"I can't deny that she was my best friend for 13 years. She was always there for me. For two of those years, it was just the two of us on our own. We used to have a bond. I can't just pretend all of that didn't happen because she's acting like a bitch right now," I pointed out.

Dimitri's face softened. "I understand. We'll tell my mother," he agreed. "And you should really stop cursing all the time. Think of the negative impact that could have on our baby."

"Our mother," I corrected him. I saw the joy in his eyes. "And I am just trying to express myself."

"You express yourself more than anyone else I know Mrs. Belikov. It won't kill you to go eight months without cursing," he insisted.

"You don't know that," I muttered under my breath.

I didn't say that low enough, because Dimitri heard me. He chuckled. "Oh Roza, what am I going to do with you?" He asked me with a grin.

"I could think of a few things," I said to him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him.

He pulled back after a few moments. "Ready to go tell my… our mom?" He asked.

I sighed and nodded. "Let's go," I said grabbing his hand. We made our way down to the living room where Olena was waiting for us.

"Mom, we have something we need to tell you," Dimitri started.

And we told her. Everything. Her eyes got wider and wider as we told her what had happened. When we had finished, she burst into tears and pulled us into a death grip. I could see from her face that these were good tears.

"You're having a baby," she whispered happily as if she didn't believe her ears. "My little boy is going to be a dad. I never thought I would see this day."

I glanced at Dimitri and saw the joy in his eyes. Our fear of Olena thinking we weren't ready or being unhappy about the pregnancy evaporated. We knew she would be there for us.


	8. Chapter 8

"I can't believe this. I'm so sorry for everything that happened, but I'm so happy for you two. And of course, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you want," Olena told us when she had calmed down. "There are a few apartments about five minutes away from here. You might want to look there."

Dimitri and I looked at her gratefully. "We should look there today," I told him. I turned to Olena. "We really don't want to intrude here, especially when you have two babies living here already."

"Nonsense. I want my son, his beautiful wife, and their two babies to stay here for a couple of day before they go searching for their own place. I don't get to see you a lot and I insist you stay here at least for two or three days," Olena said forcefully.

"How about we go look today and we won't move in for a couple of days. I would love to spend time here, but we really don't want to inconvenience you," I said.

Olena pursed her lips. She and Dimitri were stubborn, but they had nothing on me. "Okay," she said reluctantly.

"Thank you for letting us stay here mom," Dimitri said to her gratefully. "Roza and I will put our bags in our room. We'll be back to help you with breakfast."

"Absolutely not. You two rest for a little bit, especially you Rose. I'll come get you when breakfast is ready," Olena told us.

We figured it would be useless to argue. Well Dimitri did and I didn't feel like fighting with my husband. We made our way to our bedroom. "I have to call Abe," I told Dimitri.

He handed me his cell phone and started to unpack our stuff. I dialed Abe's number.

Merhaba. I heard Abe say into the phone.

"I don't know what that means old man, but it better not be something mean," I warned.

Oh sorry. I didn't recognize the number, so I assumed it was one of my business associates, Abe explained.

"It's alright. What does it mean anyway?" I asked curiously.

It's just hello in Turkish. But enough of you learning Turkish. Did you get there alright?

"Yeah. We got here. Olena welcomed us in, but we're going to look for our own apartment today."

An apartment? I think not! My daughter living in an apartment with me grandchildren? No. You get yourself a nice cozy house.

"A house?" I asked uncertainly.

A house. It's the least I could do. I missed 18 years of your life, Abe pointed out.

"But you've already done so much. You bought us our plane tickets here and got us a car for while we're in Russia. I can't accept this," I said sadly. I wish I could, but it wouldn't be right to take that money from my father.

You can do this and you will. Don't deny me the right to spoil my grandchildren rotten. I didn't have that opportunity with you. Don't ruin this for me. Buy you and Belikov a nice house.

"I'll have to talk about it with Dimitri," I said. I didn't know what Dimitri would say. He would probably think it is too much.

Let me talk to Belikov.

I turned to Dimitri. "Abe wants to talk to you," I told him.

He took the phone and looked at it like it was a live snake. He cleared his throat. "Hello Mr. Mazur," he said formally.

Dimitri didn't speak for a long time, but his eyes got wider with every passing second. When he finally spoke again, he sounded terrified. "Of course Mr. Mazur. We will find a nice house. I wouldn't dream of living in an apartment," he said in a shaky voice. "Thank you for your generosity."

Dimitri paused for a moment. "Yes, of course. Have a good night Mr. Mazur," he said.

I looked at Dimitri curiously. "So we're getting a house," Dimitri said.

"What in the world did Abe say to you?" I asked curiously.

"That we are getting a house," Dimitri said evasively.

"Dimitri," I warned.

"Fine. He said that he wanted us to get a house and if we didn't get a house, he would," Dimitri started to explain. I never got to hear the rest of his explanation, because a wave of nausea rippled through me. It wasn't Strigoi nausea. I sprinted to the bathroom.

Dimitri held my hair while I threw up. "Tell me I'm just sick and this isn't morning sickness," I pleaded.

Dimitri just stayed silent and I groaned to myself. I stood up and brushed my teeth.

"Is every morning going to be like that?" I asked miserably.

"Not necessarily. Karolina used to eat crackers in the morning when she was pregnant with Paul. She said it helped with her morning sickness," Dimitri told me.

I looked up at him hopefully. "We'll have to try that," I told him seriously.

He nodded. "I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think you were going to try it," he pointed out amused.

I rolled my eyes. "You and your logic," I mumbled.

"What about me and my logic?" Dimitri asked, trying to hide his chuckle.

I ignored his question. "Should we go help your mom?" I asked him. I didn't want to sit around and do nothing.

"No. She would probably slap me if I let you help her with breakfast," Dimitri said with a small chuckle.

"Ugh," I said sitting down on his bed. "Why am I so restless?"

Dimitri sat down next to me. "Because you hate to just sit around and do nothing. That's just who you are," Dimitri pointed out.

"I hate being restless," I said jumping to my feet. I started to pace

"Rose, calm down," Dimitri urged me, putting an arm on my shoulder.

I took a deep breath, but my restless feeling didn't go away. "I can't calm down. For the next eight months, I'm going to get fat and out of shape. And I won't be able to do anything but sit around and let it happen," I said angrily.

"Rose. You can still run a little bit as long as you're careful," Dimitri told me. "I know you hate running, but…"

"But nothing. If I can run then I will," I insisted. I started rummaging through the drawers.

"What are you doing Roza?" Dimitri asked me curiously.

"Looking for my shorts," I told him.

"You can't go running right now Rose," Dimitri told me. "Breakfast will be ready in a couple of minutes. Knowing you, you probably want to run longer than that."

"Dimitri I have to do something!" I said restlessly. "If I can't run, what can I do?"

"I have a couple of ideas," he said as he pulled me close to him. He pressed his lips to mine.

He had just taken off my shirt when there was a knock on our door. "Are you guys decent?" Viktoria called.

"No," I said, not pulling away from Dimitri.

Viktoria didn't say anything so I pulled Dimitri's lips back down to mine. I pulled off his shirt and he took off my bra.

Viktoria knocked again. "Are you guys decent yet?" She asked.

"We're getting less decent," I told her.

"Eew!" She shouted.

"You asked," I pointed out.

She didn't say anything back and I hoped she left. Dimitri brought me to the bed and after another minute, neither of us were wearing any clothes.

Viktoria knocked on the door. I groaned. "Viktoria if we weren't decent before, we really aren't decent now," I warned her.

"That's nice to know," someone called from the other side of the door. It wasn't Viktoria. I turned to Dimitri mortified.


	9. Chapter 9

I looked at Dimitri horrified. "That wasn't Viktoria," I managed to say.

"When you guys are ready, breakfast is ready," Olena called. I blushed a deep red and couldn't look at Dimitri.

Dimitri looked as horrified as I felt. We glanced at each other than quickly put on our clothes. We made our way to the kitchen and I avoided eye contact with Olena at all costs. Dimitri and I initially sat on opposite ends of the table.

"Oh for god's sake. You guys are married. I knew you were having sex. Now go sit next to her," she ordered hitting Dimitri with a dish towel. Karolina and Sonya both giggled. It wasn't until then that I realized Viktoria wasn't here yet.

I looked down and let my hair cover my flushed cheeks. Obviously Olena knew we were having sex. I mean that's how babies are made and hey I am having a baby, but it was still awkward and embarrassing. I mean I pretty much told my husband's mother that we were naked in our room. I should have checked to make sure it was Viktoria. Or better yet, I should have kept my big mouth shut. I will never be able to look Olena in the eye again.

"Hey don't worry," Dimitri whispered as he sat down next to me. "At least she didn't walk in on us or anything."

I looked up at him. "Dimitri I practically told her we were having sex in there," I told him mortified.

"Oh? And how does she know you weren't just saying that to tease Viktoria? Everyone in this house knows how much you like to tease her," Dimitri pointed out.

My eyes widened. "Is that really what she thinks?" I asked hopefully.

"I think so. She would be just embarrassed as us if she didn't think you were joking. From the way she's teasing you about it, she has to," he told me soothingly. I let out a sigh of relief. I knew Dimitri was telling the truth. He wouldn't lie to me about this. "But from now on, can you please make sure it's Viktoria at the door before you say something like that again?" I could see the amused twinkle in his eye.

I grinned at him slightly. I was still embarrassed by what I said, but not as much as before. "I think I can handle that one," I agreed.

Viktoria finally joined us in the kitchen. It took all of my self-control not to stare. She may only be five months pregnant, but she is huge. I turned to Dimitri. "If we're having twins, I'm going to kill you," I warned him. Dimitri looked at me nervously.

"I doubt you will have twins," Dimitri pointed out.

"God hates me. Who knows what he will do," I pointed out. "And who knows. Maybe Lissa's concoction that got me pregnant is like the thing that got octomom pregnant. She couldn't have babies so they did some science voodoo on her and poof, pregnant with eight babies. I read about her while Lissa and I were on the run. God Dimitri, I can't handle eight babies!"

Dimitri put an arm on my shoulder. "Calm down Roza. You're not going to get pregnant with eight babies," he promised me.

"How do you know? This was a bad idea. I shouldn't have gotten pregnant. We have twins and now I'm going to be like octomom," I said crying. My voice rose a little more than I had planned for it. I don't think anyone actually heard what I said, but they sure saw that I was crying. Stupid hormones.

They were looking at me concerned and confused. "Rose, what's wrong?" Karolina asked me softly.

Luckily for me, I was saved by the baby. We heard crying come from the nursery. "I'll go," I told Dimitri. He nodded at me. Grateful for the opportunity to avoid their questions, I jumped to my feet and ran out of the kitchen.

I figured Mila or Lera would just need a diaper change. Or maybe one of them was hungry. I got to the nursery and found both of them fast asleep. Where did the crying come from? Neither of them were red faced. But just thirty seconds ago, I heard a baby crying. Zoya was at the kitchen table, so it wasn't her.

I went out into the hallway. "Dimitri," I called. "Can you come here?"

After about a minute, I heard Dimitri's soft footsteps coming up the stairs. "Is everything alright? Which one was crying?" Dimitri asked.

"That's what I need your help with," I told him. He looked at me curiously and we entered the nursery together.

He looked at the sleeping babies. "Neither of them look like they were crying," he said confused.

"Exactly. Now that I think about it, I stopped hearing crying the moment I got up," I told him.

He nodded. "That is when it stopped," he agreed.

I had a weird feeling in my gut. "Something's not right," I whispered to him. "I don't know what it is, but something doesn't feel right."

"I know what you mean," he said, unable to hide his anxiety.

I picked up Lera and handed her to Dimitri and picked up Mila. "We have to feed them anyway," I told him.

He nodded and we made our way back to the kitchen. We got settled in our chairs, each of us holding a baby. I realized the only person in the kitchen that knew about the twins was Olena. Everyone else was staring at us, practically demanding an explanation. Before we could tell them what was going on, we heard the crying again. This time it was definitely coming from outside. I handed Mila to Karolina and saw Dimitri hand Lera to Sonya. They looked at us confused, but didn't question it.

We walked up to the back door. Before we could go outside, I put my hand on Dimitri's arm. "Wait a sec," I whispered to him. Then I let my defenses down.

The ghosts swarmed around me until I found the one I was looking for. "Eddie," I whispered.


	10. Chapter 10

All of the other ghostly figures disappeared until it was just Eddie standing before me. His face was grim and worried.

"Is there a baby outside?" I asked him nervously.

He gave me a look that quite clearly said, 'you heard a baby crying what else could it be?' I sighed and rolled my eyes at him. "You know what I mean. Is it really a baby in danger or is someone trying to lure us out of the house?" I asked him. I hated to think the worst, but I was afraid Lissa might be behind this.

His face fell. He looked like he was struggling to say something. I knew the answer to the question I was about to ask, but I needed to know. "Are they safe? Is the baby safe?" I asked nervously. Call it maternal instinct, but if there was a child in danger, I would do everything in my power to save them. So when Eddie shook his head, I charged the door with Dimitri in tow.

What I saw surprised me. There was a dhampir girl being attacked by a moroi man. I know it was childish, especially since it was sunny out, but I was expecting Strigoi. What are the odds that a dhampir just happens to get attacked outside of a house with two badass guardians?

I saw the girl struggling against the Moroi's hold. She had several cuts on her cheek and a few splotches that were already turning purple. I could tell she wasn't going down without a fight.

But my focus wasn't on her. It was on the baby. The baby was being held carelessly by another dhampir, this one was a man. My guess would be that he was the guardian for the moroi man. That made our task much more difficult, because that meant the moroi was probably royal. I couldn't help the look of disgust when I looked at the guardian. We were meant to protect, not to assist an insane moroi in his disgusting plots.

The guardian nor the moroi noticed our presence yet. "Come on. I can show you a good time," the moroi said with an evil grin. If the situation wasn't so serious, I would totally roll my eyes at his words and think of a snappy comeback. However, all we have right now is the element of surprise. "Wouldn't want any harm to come to your precious baby would you?"

The guardian pulled out his silver stake and put it towards the baby's neck. "Obey him at once," the guardian warned.

"Thanks Arnold. You can get the seconds," the moroi said in an evil voice.

I felt sick to my stomach at what the moroi and guardian were doing. I turned to Dimitri and we silently passed along the message. I knew Dimitri was going to go for the guardian. I couldn't risk fighting with the dhampir. I couldn't risk my baby.

"Be careful," I whispered.

"You too," he whispered back. He squeezed my hand briefly then pulled back. "Now!"

I sprinted towards the moroi, tackling him to the ground. The dhampir he had been holding fell to the ground sobbing. I heard fighting sounds coming from Dimitri. The only thing that gave me comfort was the crying baby. As long as the baby was crying, it was alive.

The moroi recovered quicker than I expected. He pulled out a knife and jumped to his feet, facing me. I no longer had the element of surprise, so I would have to choose my moves carefully. We circled, never taking our eyes off of each other. He lunged for me, but I saw it coming. I stepped out of the way, and grabbed his arm holding the knife.

I twisted his arm, hard. He gasped in pain and dropped his knife. I wasn't expecting much of a fight from him and I let my defenses down. His foot snaked out and kicked me hard in my knee. My knee gave out and I fell to the ground. He picked up his knife as I stumbled back to my feet. I limped to change my position to face him again.

He lunged at me again, but I didn't have time to get out of his way this time. His knife stabbed into my shoulder. I gasped from the pain. I had to end this. Soon. As painful as it was, I twisted out of his way before he could withdraw the knife. I pushed all my body weight onto him, causing him to stumble to the ground. I bashed his head into the ground hard, rendering him unconscious. At least that's what I hoped. I hoped I didn't kill him, but I couldn't be sure. My brain was fuzzy and I couldn't quite see strait.

I was starting to get dizzy from the blood loss. I stumbled over to Dimitri. The baby was lying on the ground, screaming his lungs off. I had to hope that he had been placed and the ground and not dropped. I picked him up gently and held him in my uninjured arm.

"It will be okay," I whispered. He calmed down in my hold, but was still whimpering. I breathed a sigh of relief.

The black dots were becoming larger, I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. I put the baby on the ground so if I passed out, I wouldn't harm him. He started crying again the moment he touched the grass. I closed my eyes and focused on taking deep breaths, trying to hold onto consciousness.

"Roza?" I heard Dimitri call. I didn't have it in me to answer him. I was too tired. "Roza?" He called more panicked voice. I wanted to answer him so badly, wanted to make the pain and panic in his voice go away, but I couldn't. I didn't have the energy.

I heard a movement to my left and I instinctively rolled over to protect the baby. She said something in Russian that I didn't understand. I let out a loose sort of growl.

"She doesn't speak Russian," I heard Dimitri say. The sounds of his fight were increasing.

"It's okay," a female voice whispered. "I'm his mother." I backed off slightly. I assumed she picked up the baby, because he stopped crying. "It's okay Venya, mommy's here." I heard her say to him soothingly.

I heard something loud fall to the ground. I forced my eyes open and looked past the black dots to see Dimitri on the ground. Dimitri wasn't unconscious, but he would need a moment to get his bearings. The guardian stood over him. I gasped. He was going to stake Dimitri. I mustered up all my strength and threw myself at the guardian. I didn't care if it meant I would die. Dimitri needed to be safe. I was nothing without him.

My distraction gave Dimitri the time he needed to get back to his feet. I felt the guardian flip me over. he was straddling me, holding the stake above his head. Before he had a chance to bring the stake down, Dimitri's hands were around his neck.

After a minute, the guardian passed out and Dimitri relinquished his hold on him. He pushed him off of me. I closed my eyes. I just wanted to sleep. "Roza, stay with me," Dimitri begged. From the rocking, I assumed he had picked me up, but I was too far gone to be sure. The last thing I heard before I passed out was Dimitri's soothing Russian words.


	11. Chapter 11

I felt myself drifting back to consciousness. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was in the Belikov's house. Dimitri was sitting in a chair on the side of the bed, his head resting on the mattress. He was asleep and I didn't want to wake him.

Unfortunately, Dimitri had some kind of sixth sense and his eyes sprang open after a moment. He looked overjoyed to find me awake. "How are you feeling?" He asked me.

"Tired and a little sore. What happened?" I asked confused.

"What do you remember?" He asked me gently.

I thought back and some of the memories came back to me. "The baby?" I asked terrified.

"Safe and sound. The mother is okay too," he reassured me. "They're here. They'll be staying here for a few days. The girl wanted to talk to you."

"Can I talk to her now?" I asked hopefully.

"Do you feel up to it?" He asked me uncertainly.

I nodded. "I'm just going to be sitting in bed anyway," I pointed out. "It's not like you're going to let me do something fun. Besides, I don't hurt as much as I thought I would."

"No I'm not," he said sternly. "You're lucky Oksana got here when she did. She healed you a little bit. But I thought we agreed no more near death experiences."

I grinned at him. "Like I planned that? I didn't think the moroi would try to pull a knife on me," I pointed out.

"No, but you only made your injuries worse when you tackled the guardian. You didn't need to do that," Dimitri told me.

"I couldn't let him kill you," I said softly looking away from him. "I don't think you understand how much you mean to me."

"Roza, I am grateful that you saved me. Your life and our baby's life are more important than me," he told me.

I didn't think it would do any good to argue with him. "Is our baby okay?" I asked him quietly.

"From what Oksana said yes," Dimitri told me. "It's starting to form its own aura, which she said is what it should be doing at this stage in the pregnancy."

I breathed a sigh of relief and gently rubbed my stomach. "I'm glad. I don't want anything to happy to them," I told him sincerely.

"Me neither," he agreed kissing my forehead. "You two mean more to me than anything else in the world."

"You don't know I'm only having one baby," I said, my thoughts going back to being octomom.

Dimitri studied me for a minute before he frowned. "You're not going to have eight babies Roza," he promised me. I sighed. Of course he figured out what I was thinking.

"You don't know that," I said stubbornly.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "In a few months you'll realize I am right," he said.

"Or in a few months, I'll prove you wrong," I muttered.

"Oh Roza," he said with an exasperated sigh. "Did you want to see Amy?" He asked me changing the subject.

"Amy?" I asked confused.

"She's the dhampir," he explained to me.

"Oh," I said. "Yes, please." He stood up and started to walk away from me. The image of him lying on the ground with the guardian standing over him ready to kill him popped into my head. Even though I was the only one that nearly died because of injuries, I wasn't the only one that narrowly escaped death. "No!" I said panicked before I could stop myself. He turned to face me confused. "Don't leave me," I pleaded.

He smiled lightly. He opened the door and for a moment, I thought he was going to leave. "Mom," he called out into the hallway. Then he came back and sat by my side. "I'm never going to leave you," he promised me softly.

I had no reason to get all emotional, but I couldn't stop the tears that were forming. Unfortunately, Olena chose that moment to make an appearance. "Rose, are you alright?" She asked me anxiously. "What hurts?"

"Nothing. Just these damn hormones," I complained.

Olena chuckled. "I remember from Karolina. You could say 'hi' to her and that would set off the waterworks," she said amused. Somehow, that made me feel better. Olena turned to Dimitri. "What did you need Dimka?"

"Can you send Amy up? Rose would like to talk to her," Dimitri told her.

She looked at him hesitantly. "Dimka, can I speak to you in the hallway for a moment?" She asked him.

I dug my nails into his palm. He can't leave me. "Even if I wanted to leave her side, I don't think Rose would let me," Dimitri said, motioning to the hand I had in my death grip. "Besides, I already know what you're going to say and Rose wants to see her. You know how stubborn she is."

I elbowed Dimitri lightly. He chuckled. I looked up at Olena. "Please," I asked. "Dimitri said she wanted to talk to me."

Olena pursed her lips. "Rose, you really need to rest," she told me.

"I am. I've been out for…" I paused, not really sure how long I was out.

"Almost 9 hours," Dimitri told me.

"Nine hours," I finished. Then what he said processed in my head. "That means the sun is already down." I looked at him worriedly.

He nodded. "Yes," he agreed, looking at me curiously.

"You can't let Amy leave tonight," I told him. "What if there are Strigoi?"

"Calm down Rose. Of course we're not letting her leave tonight," he promised me. I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn't hide my yawn. "Why don't you talk to her in the morning before she leaves? You need to sleep."

I looked at him. "What if she leaves before I wake up?" I asked him. I don't know why I cared, but I wanted to talk to the girl, wanted to make sure she and her baby were really okay.

"She won't dear. She's as determined to talk to you as you are to her," Olena told me. "She won't leave without talking to you. I won't let her even if she tries."

I stifled another yawn. "I guess I could use a little sleep," I agreed. Olena nodded and left the room. "But I'm not sleeping without you in this bed," I warned Dimitri.

He grinned at me. "That I can agree to," he promised. "But we can't do anything."

I made a face. "Fine," I said grumpily. Before Dimitri had a chance to move, Olena was back. She handed me a cup of water and some pills. I obediently swallowed them and handed her my empty cup. "Thank you," I told her sincerely.

She smiled at me. "Get some sleep dear," she told me, kissing my forehead. Then she left the room.

Once she was gone, Dimitri stripped down into his boxers and got into bed with me. I snuggled into his chest and fell into a deep sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Before the blackness of sleep could fully pull me under, I was pulled to a different scene. I recognized the tell-tale of one of Adrian's dream walks. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. Adrian hasn't tried to visit me in my dreams since I was at St. Vladimir's.

The scene around me materialized. I was on a sunny beach. I closed my eyes briefly enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin. I could hear the ocean's waves in the background.

I opened my eyes and took in everything. The palm trees that swayed in the gentle breeze. The clear blue ocean water. The clouds in the sky, so fluffy and white they looked hand drawn.

The last thing I noticed was the figure in khaki shorts and a light blue button up shirt. His hair was perfectly styled to look like he had just woken up and his green eyes were looking at me expectantly.

"Little dhampir," he said with a nod.

"Adrian," I said with a smile. "What are you doing?"

He shrugged. "I wanted to talk to you," he explained.

"About?" I urged.

He looked at me nervously. "Something's wrong with Lissa," he said nervously.

"I know," I admitted sadly. "But I don't know what to do Adrian. That's why we left. I don't know what's going on with her."

"What did she do to you?" He asked me concerned.

I bit my lip. "Before I tell you that, I have to tell you something else. Did Lissa ever mention to you that Dimitri and I were trying to have a baby?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "You're both dhampirs. You can't have a baby," he told me confused.

"That's what we thought, but Lissa found a way. A potion that temporarily healed my infertility. And well… it worked," I told him hesitantly.

He looked at me intensely. I realized he was studying my aura. "You're pregnant," he said surprised. I nodded, unable to hide my joy.

Then Adrian surprised me. "Congratulations!" He said to me. He pulled me into a hug. "I'm so happy for you."

I pulled back a little to look at him. I saw nothing but sincerity in his face. "Really?" I asked him uncertainly.

"Really. You never would love me as much as Belikov. And I guess if you've found love like that, then maybe I will too someday," he explained with a shrug.

I smirked at him. "Who is she?" I asked him.

Ladies and gentleman, Adrian Ivashkov blushed. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said looking at the ground.

"Come on. Who's the lucky lady?" I asked victoriously.

"Her name is Avery Lazar. She's really beautiful Rose. She has nothing on you, but I haven't felt like this since…" He cut himself off. I knew what he was going to say. He felt that way about me.

"I'm happy Adrian. I really hope things work out with you two," I said sincerely.

"Thanks Rose," he said. He seemed genuinely happy. "But I really need to talk to you about Lissa. I mean Avery does what she can for her, but Lissa… I don't even know how to describe it."

"Lissa's friends with Avery?" I asked curiously.

Adrian nodded. "Lissa actually introduced me to Avery. They met a couple of days before elections," he explained to me.

"I'm surprised I didn't meet her," I muttered to myself. "You let her know if she hurts you that I will deal with her," I told Adrian seriously.

He grinned. "I'll pass on the message. You should know that her guardian and her brother have already given me the same warning with regards to her," he said. He gulped nervously. "They're a little creepy, but they just want the best for her. Her guardian is almost as big as Belikov."

"You really care about this girl don't you?" I asked him.

He regarded me curiously. "I do," he said. "I really do."

"I'm really happy for you Adrian."

"That means a lot coming from you." He gave me one of his big smiles, still managing to hide his fangs.

"So what's going on with Lissa?" I asked.

He frowned. "First, I need to hear what Lissa did to you," he told me.

So I told him. Everything that she had said to me about my baby. As I spoke his shocked expression turned to anger. When I had finally finished, he was pacing. "I can't believe she would do that," he whispered to himself.

"So you agree with what I did?" I asked him uncertainly.

"I'll admit I was angry at first. I thought you and Belikov just took off. I didn't know about the baby. But now that I did, I can't blame you. You have to protect your baby. You did the right thing," he told me. I hadn't realized until then that I was worried about what he would think about me. Adrian has always been a good friend to me and I would hate to jeopardize that friendship.

"Thanks Adrian," I said softly.

He studied me again. "Little dhampir, are you okay?" He asked me uncertainly.

"I've just had a rough couple of days. Couple of weeks really," I told him. "I'll be fine. I'm just worried about Lissa. She's queen now. If something is getting to her it's not only going to affect her, but the whole moroi world."

"I know little dhampir. That's what worries me. She's drinking like crazy. She hasn't been sober a single night. And she's been fighting with Christian," he told me.

I was shocked. Lissa. Innocent Lissa. "Drinking and fighting with her boyfriend?" I asked incredulously. "You don't think she's trying to drink away spirit's darkness do you?"

He shook his head. "When I first started drinking, I did it gradually. What she's doing? It's like she's being controlled by something. Not by spirit's darkness, but something else," he said. Adrian had a far off look in his eyes.

"Adrian?" I asked tentatively. "What happened?"

He looked at me. "I don't know how to explain it. It's her aura. It's almost a pure black color. Not like yours looked when you were taking the darkness from Lissa, but a real black. But sometimes, it's like she's fighting it and her aura turns gold again. But it's only briefly. And when her aura's gold, she keeps apologizing and then the littlest thing will set her off and make her aura turn black again. Something's not right," he told me.

I considered his words carefully. Before I had a chance to respond, the dream started to fade. "Someone's waking me up," Adrian told me panicked.

"We'll figure this out Adrian. I promise, we'll figure this out," I told him before he disappeared. And we would. Someone is messing with my best friend. This means war.


	13. Chapter 13

When I finally woke up, I was crying into Dimitri's bare chest. He was soothingly rubbing my back. Once he realized I was awake, he pulled me into a sitting position. "Roza, everything's okay. It was just a dream," he told me gently.

I shook my head. "It wasn't a dream. I saw Adrian," I told him desperately. I couldn't wrap my head around the information I had found out during my dream.

"Adrian visited you?" Dimitri asked. I could see the flash of jealousy in his eyes. "He's the one that bothered you?"

I nodded. "He needed to talk about Lissa," I told him. "He didn't bother me though. I'm glad he visited me."

"Is she okay?" Dimitri asked anxiously.

I shook my head. "Something's wrong with her. Adrian's been studying her aura. It's… weird," I told him. I recounted everything that had happened in Adrian's spirit dream.

When I had finished, he held me close to him. "Everything is going to be okay Roza. We'll figure out what's wrong with Lissa," he told me.

"How are we going to do that from Russia?" I asked him desperately. "She's in Pennsylvania Dimitri. And we're here, hiding from our problems."

"Rosemarie Hathaway. Do you think we would be here if we had any other choice?" Dimitri asked sternly. "We have to think about our baby. And our girls. Rose, we had to do this. I don't like it any more than you do, but we were backed into a wall."

I dropped my head. I knew he was right. "I know, I just don't know how to help her. What could be controlling her?" I asked him.

"Is there another spirit user at Court?" Dimitri asked.

I shook my head. "Just Lissa, Adrian, and Sonya," I told him. "Adrian is really good at seeing auras. He's always on the lookout for spirit users so he would have told me in a heartbeat." I saw the crestfallen expression on Dimitri's face. "But I'll run it by him next time he visits my dream," I promised. "Maybe he missed them."

Dimitri nodded. "Meanwhile, we'll do as much research as possible," he told me.

"How are we going to research? We'd need to hack into the moroi records…" I started. Then it dawned on me.

I looked up at him with a grin. "Sydney," we said at the same time.

Dimitri instantly pulled out his phone and handed it to me. Sydney may tolerate Dimitri, but somewhere along the line she came to trust me. I never expected to become friends with an alchemist, particularly after I heard that I am an 'evil creature of the night.' But it happened.

I dialed her number and she answered on the second ring. What do you need my help with now Rose? Sydney asked. I swear I could detect a hint of amusement in her voice.

"What makes you think I want something?" I asked innocently. I mean I did need her for something, but why did she have to jump to that conclusion?

Then why did you call? She asked suspiciously.

"Maybe I just wanted to see how my friend is doing," I said defensively.

Rose, Sydney said. I could almost see her raising her eyebrows in disapproval.

"Okay, so maybe we do need your help with something," I admitted. "Were you sent back to Baia?"

Not Baia, but I'm close to there. Why? She asked curiously.

"Can you meet me at the Belikovs house? I'll explain everything when you get here," I promised her.

There was a long pause on the phone. I have Alchemist business right now. I can be there tomorrow morning, she reluctantly told me. She may have gotten used to me and come to think of me as a friend, but she was still uncomfortable with most dhampirs.

"Thanks Sydney," I told her sincerely.

Bye Rose.

"Bye," I said hanging up the phone.

I turned to Dimitri with a grin. "She'll be here tomorrow morning," I told him.

He smiled at me. "We're one step closer," he told me. "One step closer to solving this mystery."

I grinned at him. I glanced at his lips then back up at his eyes. He got the message and pressed his lips to mine. Before we could take it further than that, there was a knock on the door.

"If that's Viktoria, I'm going to tell her we're busy having sex," I warned him quietly.

He chuckled. "Who is it?" He called.

"It's your mother," Olena said.

"Oh. Come in," Dimitri said. Olena opened the door and took a couple of steps into the room.

"How are you feeling Rose?" She asked me. I could see concern and compassion in her brown eyes. The eyes so much like Dimitri's.

"I feel fine," I told her honestly. "I'm a little sore, but other than that I feel perfect."

"Are you up for a visitor?" She asked me.

I looked at her confused for a moment. Who could be visiting me? Then I remembered the dhampir girl and her baby. I nodded urgently. "Yes, please," I told her. I started to get out of bed, but Dimitri's warm arms stopped me.

"I think she's going to come to us," he told me.

"I can walk," I insisted. "I feel fine." I was wrong. I got to my feet and almost went crashing to the ground. Dimitri steadied me and looked like he was going to pull me back to the bed. "I'm fine! I just need a moment to regain my balance."

After a moment, the weak feeling in my knees went away and I felt okay to walk. I got out to the hallway and to the top of the stairwell with Dimitri trailing me like a shadow. I had been able to walk okay, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle the stairs. As if seeing the hesitation in my face, Dimitri scooped me up and carried me down the stairs. Normally I would have objected, but I didn't feel like ending up in the emergency room because I fell down the stairs.

When we got down the stairs, Dimitri set me back on my feet, but never removed the protective arm he had around my waist. We made our way to the living room where the dhampir girl was sitting. This was the first time I got a good look at her.

She had really curly black hair and bright blue eyes. Her baby had her black hair, but had blue-green eyes. I would guess he was about seven or eight months old. Maybe a little older. When I took a seat next to them, he immediately reached for me. I glanced up at the girl, asking for permission. She nodded her head.

I held her baby in my arms and he settled his head comfortably into the crook of my neck. "He likes you," she told me with a small smile.

I glanced down at the now sleeping baby. I couldn't help but agree. "He's so precious," I told her. I wish I could freeze this moment. It was so peaceful.


	14. Chapter 14

I looked up at the girl expectantly. "I'm Amy," she told me, holding her hand out for me. I was surprised to see a large diamond ring on her hand.

"I'm Rose," I said shaking her hand. My eyes darted back to the baby. He was so cute. I wonder if she was engaged to the father. Oksana and Mark got married, so maybe they were more accepting of that in Siberia.

"He's Benjamin. Named after his father," she told me before I had a chance to ask. "Little Venya."

"Venya?" I asked curiously.

"It's the Russian nickname for Benjamin," she explained.

"That might just beat Dimka," I muttered to myself. I would never understand Russian nicknames. "How are you feeling?" I asked her loud enough for her to hear, but low enough it didn't wake up the baby.

"I feel fine. You interfered before that asshole could do anything," she explained. An uncomfortable look came across her face. "I need to thank you."

I shook my head. "There's nothing to thank me for. I wasn't going to let that moroi take advantage of you," I told her.

She shook her head. "Not for that, but for protecting my baby. He's the only thing in this world that matters to me. I don't know what I would do if I lost him," she told me sadly.

I looked at her surprised. I couldn't help it when my eyes drifted to what I had assumed was an engagement ring. She followed my gaze and she looked very sad. "I can't bear to take it off," she said sadly.

"Did you… uh… did you break of the engagement?" I asked her. I didn't want to pry, but I was curious.

She shook her head. "I was in love," she told me softly. "He loved me too. When we found out I was pregnant, he proposed to me. It was the happiest day of my life." She had a small smile on her face. "A couple of days after he proposed to me, he was k… he died." Her eyes had a far off look and a few tears escaped. "I guess the ring is all I have left of him."

"I'm sorry," I told her softly. I glanced at Dimitri. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. I couldn't imagine something like that happening to me. I don't know if I would be able to find the will to live. I don't know how he died, but something told me it wasn't good.

She shook her head slightly. "It's fine. That was well over a year ago. Seven months after he died, I was blessed with a beautiful baby. I see so much of him in Benjamin. He's all I have left. I just needed you to understand the magnitude of what you had done. He means the world to me and you kept him safe," she told me seriously.

"I'm happy I could help," I told her. And really, I was. I was even happier I was able to interfere when I heard her story. I'm glad I was able to save her from more heartbreak.

She smiled at me. "We really should get going," she told me. "I have a few things I need to do before I get home."

I nodded in understanding. We both stood up and I gently passed the baby over to her without waking him up. She gave me a small hug then left. Before I had a chance to look for him, Dimitri wrapped his arms around my waist. I turned to him and he pressed his lips to mine. I looked after Amy's retreating form.

"That was sad," I whispered to him. I could feel my eyes watering up and I internally cursed my hormones.

"It certainly was. I wonder what happened to him. She started to say he was killed," Dimitri murmured to me.

"I know. I thought that was odd too, but I figured it wasn't my business," I told him with a small frown. "I feel like she wouldn't cover up like that if he was attacked by Strigoi or something. It must be something bad."

Dimitri nodded. I knew he agreed with me. "Like you said though. It's none of our business," he told me gently. I nodded. I didn't want to keep lingering on this. "Are you hungry?"

My stomach growled loudly as an answer. "Does that answer your question?" I asked him with a big smile.

"Come on. I know my mom finished making breakfast," he said. He helped me walk into the kitchen and we took the only two remaining seats.

I was surprised to see that Viktoria was staring at her plate. She looked like she was ready to explode with questions. "Everything alright Viktoria?" I asked after Olena put a plate in front of me.

She looked up at me and her control broke. "What is going on? Dimka refused to tell us about the two babies upstairs. And the girl and the baby that just left? He wouldn't tell us anything, insisting he wanted you to be there when he told us," she told me. I could detect a hint of annoyance mixed in with her curiosity.

I looked at Dimitri and raised my eyebrows. He shrugged at me. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Viktoria. I noticed Sonya and Karolina were listening in too.

"One question at a time please," I said to her.

"Who are the babies upstairs?" Viktoria asked eagerly.

"Lera and Mila," I told her. "Dimitri and I adopted them."

Her jaw dropped. "What?" She asked.

I sighed. "I'm going to tell you what happened, but I need to talk without interruptions," I said.

Karolina, Viktoria, and Sonya eagerly nodded their heads. So I began my story. They looked very interested in what had happened. All of them looked horrified when I got to the part about the Strigoi attacking Samantha, they looked horrified.

Then it became time to drop the biggest bombshell on them. I took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant," I told them, waiting for their reactions.


	15. Chapter 15

I stared at the Belikov's shocked face, waiting for a reaction. Viktoria was the angriest. "How could you Rose? I really thought you loved my brother? How could you cheat on him?" She asked. She was furious. Understandably, because I was someone she thought she could trust. She stood up and started pacing.

"Viktoria," Dimitri said calmly.

"Don't Viktoria me," she snapped. "How can you still be with her? She cheated on you Dimka!"

"I didn't cheat on him!" I told her, struggling to stay calm.

"Oh really?" Viktoria asked sarcastically. "What do you call it when you're married. Not even just in a relationship. Fucking married and you have sex with someone who isn't your husband?" I told Dimitri they were going to jump to this conclusion.

"Vika, I'm the father," Dimitri said to her trying to calm her down.

Viktoria stopped in her tracks and stared at him shocked. "It's... it's not possible," she said confused.

"One of my… um… friends is a spirit user," I told her quietly. I wonder if anyone else noticed my hesitation over the word friend. I know Dimitri did. I took a deep breath and continued. "She was able to heal my infertility so Dimitri and I could have a baby. It was our wedding gift."

Dimitri gave me a small smile and kissed my cheek. Viktoria calmed down and sat back down. "You guys are serious aren't you?" She asked. She still looked shocked. Sonya and Karolina shared her expression.

Dimitri and I both nodded. "I'm sorry about that Rose," Viktoria said, looking at the table. "I just assumed the worst. That was wrong of me."

I shook my head. "I don't blame you. It's not like you knew this was possible. Dimitri and I are still trying to wrap our heads around the fact that it is possible," I told her to make her feel better.

"I still should have heard you out. I should have known better," she said sadly.

"It's okay Viktoria. I'm almost glad you reacted that way. It shows how much you want to protect Dimitri," I told her. "I'm glad you're protecting him… even if he made me a freak like octomom."

She looked at me confused while Dimitri groaned. "You're not going to be like octomom," Dimitri said exasperated.

"Why would you be like octomom?" Viktoria asked curiously.

"Because it's not natural for us to be able to conceive. I figure it's probably going to have the same effect as the human thing that made octomom… octomom," I explained. "It would just be our luck that after adopting twins, I would have eight babies."

Viktoria started laughing hysterically. "Rose, you're not going to be like octomom," Dimitri said again.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You don't know that," I told him.

He sighed. "Rose, if you were pregnant with eight babies, you would look more pregnant right now. The baby is tiny right now, but if you had eight babies, you would be bigger," he pointed out.

I looked at him shocked. I picked up my shirt and looked down at my still flat stomach. "Are you calling me fat?" I asked, trying to choke back my tears.

"Why would you think that?" Dimitri asked looking horrified.

"You said I would be bigger. To be bigger I would have to be big in the first place," I explained. I looked down at my plate filled with bacon, eggs, and blini. "You know, I don't think I'm hungry anymore." I stood up and walked out of the kitchen.

As I was leaving, I heard Dimitri ask, "What just happened?"

"You called Rose fat," Karolina said, trying to hide her laughter.

"Yeah, way to go Dimka," Viktoria said. I could picture her rolling her eyes as she said that. I blocked out the rest of her conversation and returned to my room. I plopped down on the bed and waited. I couldn't help the stupid tears that fell down my cheeks. I tried to stop them before Dimitri could see them because I knew he would come after me.

Sure enough, five minutes later, Dimitri returned with two giant plates of food. "Roza," he said softly. "I'm sorry. It was insensitive of me to say that. You're not fat," he promised me.

My tears dried up. "Promise?" I asked.

He came and sat down by my side. He pulled me up into a sitting position. "I promise," he said sincerely, looking right into my eyes.

I could see he was telling the truth. I tilted my head up and he met me half way. Our kiss consumed me. Too soon, he pulled back. I internally groaned. I wanted him… no I needed him. Stupid pregnancy hormones. "Hungry?" He asked me.

"Yes, but not for breakfast," I told him with a wink. I saw Dimitri gulp out of the corner of my eye and I couldn't hide my giggle.

"You need to eat Rose," Dimitri said once he had composed himself. I groaned and Dimitri chuckled. He handed me my plate and took his own and we ate breakfast on his bed. It was nice to sit and talk to him.

"So what's on the agenda today?" I asked him.

"I figure we can go house hunting today if you want," Dimitri suggested. I grinned at him.

"I'm fine with that," I told him. "But I have one request."

"Oh and what would that be?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Can we take Mila and Lera with us?" I asked, giving him my puppy dog eyes.

"You want to take two infants with you while we go house hunting?" Dimitri asked uncertainly.

I dropped my face, trying to figure out how to word my next statement. "I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with them. I know their young, but at the same time, I just feel like they should be part of this. We're a family now and I want to be able to picture my girls growing up in the house. I want them to be with us while we do that. It could be a little outing for the girls," I said in a rush. I don't know why I wanted them with me so badly, but I haven't seen them in over a day and I can't bear to spend any more time away from them. I blame the hormones.

Dimitri studied me for a moment before he nodded his head. "Okay," he agreed. "They can come with us."

I grinned at him. This was going to be a fun day.


	16. Chapter 16

We arrived back at our house just as the sun was setting. Our girls were fast asleep and I was ready to follow them. I was tired and very crabby and Dimitri was on the receiving end of my bad mood. We looked at house after house until we found the perfect one. It would take a couple of weeks for the lease to go through, but then we would be proud home-owners.

Almost everyone was asleep when we got home, so Dimitri and I quietly put the girls in the nursery and headed back to our room. I was too exhausted to do anything and I fell asleep the second my body hit the bed.

I woke up a couple of hours later to extreme nausea. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet. Dimitri arrived a moment after I did and held my hair back. "Why the hell is this called morning sickness? This isn't fucking morning time," I moaned.

"Language Roza," Dimitri chastised.

I shot him a nasty look. "Easy for you to lay off the curses. You're not the one puking in a toilet," I muttered under my breath. I didn't mutter low enough, because he heard me and chuckled.

"It's bad for the baby to curse," Dimitri reminded me.

I groaned. I knew he was going to win this argument. It would be like missing my arm to not be able to express myself. "Fine," I said with a sad sigh. "I'll lay off the curses."

As another wave of nausea rolled through me, I almost lost my resolve. "Fu…" I started to say. "Udge," I finished when I caught Dimitri's eye. This was going to be harder than I thought.

When I was done, I brushed my teeth and went back to bed. I managed to put on pajamas this time and fell into a deep dreamless sleep in Dimitri's arms.

We awoke way too early the next morning by a knock on our door. "Dimka? Rose?" Olena called. I rolled over and pulled the pillow over my head.

I heard Dimitri chuckle. "Yes mom?" He asked.

"That alchemist girl is here to see you. The one you met on your honeymoon," Olena told him. I could hear the confusion in her voice. I knew she was going to respect our privacy and not ask us, but that doesn't mean she wasn't burning with curiosity.

I was instantly awake. Sydney could have the answers. "Thanks mom," I called as I jumped out of bed. I quickly dressed and tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for Dimitri to finish getting ready.

As he saw me standing in front of the door impatiently, he chuckled. "You know, I think this is the first time you're ready for something before me," he said jokingly.

"Not true," I retorted immediately.

"Oh?" He asked raising one eyebrow.

"I was ready to be with you and give into you long before you were ready to give in to me," I pointed out.

Dimitri shook his head. "That I cannot agree with. Just because I have more self-control than you doesn't mean I wasn't ready before you," he retorted.

I instantly forgot about Sydney. I put my hands on my hips and raised my eyebrows at him. He stared back at me determinedly. Time to break his so called self-control. I slowly walked up to him and put my arms around his neck. I pressed myself close to him and stood up on my tippy toes to brush my lips against his. I saw hunger and desire in his eyes.

He leaned down and captured me in a passionate kiss. He dragged me to the bed.

When we were done, I couldn't stop my smug smile. "Better self-control huh?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

He groaned. "You are the only person that can make me lose control like that," he muttered to himself.

"I'd have to hope so," I told him. "I really don't want to share you."

He rolled his eyes. "Did you want to talk to Sydney?" He asked me.

"Sh…" I started to say. Remembering that I told him I would cut back on the cursing, I cut myself off. "Shoot. I forgot that she was here," I admitted.

We hastily dressed and made our way downstairs. It was a miracle that I survived house hunting and what Dimitri and I just did, when I still needed to lean on him for support when walking down the stairs. Not that I minded having his arms wrapped around me. I just find it ironic.

Sydney was waiting in the living room, stiff as a board. When she noticed us, a relieved look came across her face. "What took you so long?" She asked.

I tried to hide my blush. "Rose didn't want to wake up," Dimitri explained. "You know how she is when she's tired." I appreciated Dimitri's excuse. It would be really awkward if Sydney realized I had seduced my husband when I was supposed to come see her.

Sydney nodded to show she bought his excuse. "So Rose, what do you need?" She asked.

"There's something wrong with Lissa. She's been acting… weird," I told her.

"Weird how?" Sydney asked. Her brows knitted together in confusion.

"Weird like not acting like herself," I said. I bit my lip and told her everything. From the pregnancy to what Adrian told me in a spirit dream to Lissa's strange behavior. To Sydney's credit, the possibility that a dhampir could reproduce with a dhampir didn't even phase her. She looked at it as though it were a science experiment.

When I finished telling her everything, I could see the wheels spinning in her head. "I'll help you," she said after a long, long silence. "Vasilisa is the moroi queen. If she becomes unbalanced and reckless, it could ruin the secrecy we've tried so hard to maintain."

I was so happy she was helping me, I thought I was going to burst. "Thank you!" I squealed wrapping my arms around her and hugging her tightly.

She patted my back awkwardly. When I finally released her, she was back to business. "Where do we start?" She asked. I frowned. That is an excellent question.


	17. Chapter 17

The next two months passed quickly. Dimitri and I spent a lot of time looking through dusty old files. Sydney would stop by whenever she could and would spend hours consumed by documents on her laptop. We didn't find anything helpful yet and I was starting to lose hope.

I spent a lot of time with Viktoria. She was big now. Having twins has definitely sped up the whole showing process. She found out she was having two baby boys, which she was very excited about. We have spent hours poring over baby names. We have yet to decide on baby names. Well, we have chosen some, but we have constantly been changing our minds and Dimitri keeps talking us out of some. He refused to allow Viktoria to name her kids Ben and Jerry. At the time, we thought it was a great idea. Now? Not so much.

Her hormones were also getting the better of her. As someone who is currently suffering through hormone overdrive, Viktoria and I found it helpful to sit around and complain about all the things in life that are bothering us.

For example, Viktoria woke us up at 4:00 in the morning one day, begging for chocolate ice cream. Dimitri refused at first. But then suddenly, I was craving chocolate ice cream. Viktoria and I joined forces and it still took us almost twenty minutes to convince Dimitri to go get us chocolate ice cream. He returned almost an hour later with a huge tub of chocolate ice cream. We spent the next hour of our lives devouring the chocolate ice cream and talking about how Dimitri was insensitive to the plight of a pregnant woman.

As bad as that may seem, it's better than breaking down and crying every time something doesn't go our way.

But, today was the day. We weren't going to be burying ourselves in old papers that had been written before our grandparents were born. We wouldn't have to hear Sydney typing a thousand words a minute on her laptop. I wouldn't have to sit with Viktoria and complain about how my back hurt from bending over files all day. Today was our day. We would be having our first ultrasound done. I was so excited. I couldn't wait to see our baby.

I knew Dimitri was excited too. Today was exciting for another reason. We were finally moving into our house. The lease finally went through about a week ago, but Dimitri insisted on painting everything and moving all our furniture into the house first. Dimitri refused to let me do anything. One good thing did come out of it. Dimitri had to hire some hot, shirtless moving men to help him with the heavy furniture. Not that he specifically asked for them to be hot and shirtless, that was just an added bonus. I may be married, but I can look right? It's not my fault Dimitri waited forever to take off his shirt. I needed something to do while I sat around all day.

Now that our house was finally done, we were euphoric. We were planning on getting our girls after our doctor's appointment and spending the rest of the day in our house. I woke up and realized it would be the last time I was waking up in Dimitri's house.

I started crying uncontrollably, which woke Dimitri up. He immediately wrapped his arms around me, ready to comfort me. This wasn't the first time I woke up crying. "Roza, what's wrong?" He asked me gently.

"We're moving today," I sobbed. "We're never going to wake up in this bed again. We're probably not going to see Viktoria as much anymore which means both of us are going to be emotional messes!"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought this was about the whole octomom thing," he muttered to himself. I don't think he wanted me to hear him, but I did.

"And I'm going to be octomom!" I cried. Dimitri grimaced.

"Roza, you're not going to be octomom," he told me.

"You don't know that!" I yelled. "And even if I'm not octomom, I'm still never going to see your family again!"

"Rose! We're moving ten minutes away," Dimitri pointed out. "We're going to see them all the time!"

"You don't know that. We have two babies and then when I'm octomom, that's ten Dimitri! Ten! We're not going to have time to see your family," I cried.

"Rose, you still have six months until the babies are due," he told me. "We have a long time until we have to take care of more than two babies."

"Oh, so you agree I'm going to be octomom?" I asked him.

"No!" He said slightly frustrated. He took a deep breath. "You should get dressed. We don't want to be late for our appointment."

I sighed and reluctantly got up to get dressed. It was hard to find something to wear, because I have a small baby bump now. A lot of my clothes don't fit over my swollen stomach. I know I'm having more than one. I shouldn't be this big at three months. I quickly decided on one of Dimitri's sweatshirts and a pair of loose sweatpants. I threw my hair up into a messy ponytail.

"Ready," I told him. I was so excited. Even if I was having eight babies, at least I would get to see them. "Let's go find out if I'm octomom."

We got in our car and made our way to the OBGYN. We were in the waiting room for almost thirty minutes before we got called in.

When we did get called in, we were with a motherly looking doctor. She was a moroi, that much was obvious. "Hello, I am Dr. Kenin. How are you feeling today Rosemarie?" She asked me.

"Pretty good," I told her.

She smiled at me. "I'm glad to hear it," she said. "Are you ready to see your baby?" She asked me.

I nodded eagerly and grabbed Dimitri's hand. She looked at our intertwined hands surprised, but didn't say anything. I lifted up my shirt so she could be the gel on my stomach. "This will be cold," she warned me.

I gasped at the coldness. I thought I prepared myself for it… I didn't. As she waved the wand over my stomach, I saw her frown slightly.

"Just tell me. I'm octomom aren't I?" I asked her nervously.

"Not exactly," she told me. Shit, that wasn't good.


	18. Chapter 18

I looked at the doctor terrified. Dimitri looked noticeably pale as well. "What exactly do you mean by not exactly?" He asked nervously. He looked terrified despite all those times he promised me I wouldn't be octomom. I bet you he didn't even believe it.

She looked at our pale and nervous faces. "I'm sorry for alarming you. It appears you are having triplets," she told us. "I think."

We looked at her confused. "You think or you know?" I asked in a bitchy. I don't think I was overreacting. I wanted to know how many babies I am having.

"Well," she said hesitantly. "Here let me show you."

She turned the ultrasound screen so I could see it. "Here's baby one, baby two, and baby three," she told me pointing out the three small blobs on the screen. "But do you see the strange thing between babies two and three?"

I could see what she was talking about. The babies pictures were fuzzy, but they almost looked like there was another baby behind them. "Is that another baby?" I asked her uncertainly.

She looked at me nervously. "I think so, but I can't be sure. They are too close together. When you come back in six weeks, I will be able to tell you for sure as well as what their genders are," she told me.

I sighed. "So much for answers," I muttered. "So your guess is quadruplets?"

She nodded. "Congratulations Rose," she told me with a grin. Her smile fell. "I hope you don't find this too personal, but I was just wondering if the father was going to be involved in the pregnancy."

I hate when people jump to conclusions. "I don't know," I told her. I turned to Dimitri. "Are you going to be involved in the pregnancy babe?"

He looked like he was trying to hide his laughter. "I meant the father of the babies, not your boyfriend," she told me.

"Well, Dimitri isn't exactly my boyfriend. He's my husband. And he is the father of the babies. It's a long story and I really don't feel like getting into it," I told her sharply.

She looked a little surprised, but then she went to print out the ultrasound pictures. The second she was out the door, I turned to Dimitri. "This is your fault. You and your damn overactive sperm," I told him. "Four kids Dimitri? That's six babies in our house. At one time! Thank god we have all those extra guest rooms!" I don't know how I managed to throw a joke in there.

"Rose, it will be fine. By the time the babies are here Lera and Mila will be almost nine months old. They already sleep through the night and are very manageable babies," he pointed out.

That was true. They've always been good. I pray to god my kids are like them. If they're not, I don't know what I'm going to do. "I know we can handle a lot, but four kids Dimitri? That's a lot," I told him.

"I know it is, but Viktoria, Karolina, and Sonya will help us," he told me

"Viktoria is pregnant with twins! Sonya has a baby! Karolina has two kids," I told him. I was borderline hysterical. "How are they going to help us?"

"Rose, I've been thinking. I was thinking about this before we found out that we were having three or four kids," he started to tell me. He was interrupted by the doctor returning. She had printed out several copies of each picture and handed them to me in a big envelope.

I quickly pulled them out and looked at them. "How can I be having four babies?" I moaned. Don't get me wrong. I was happy, but four?

"Maybe whatever method you used to conceive has that side effect. It could release a bunch of sperm and eggs…" She started to say.

"Okay, you know, I think I know how a baby is made," I told her hastily.

Dimitri and I thanked her and then made our way back out to the car. I knew I had to send a picture to Abe and my mom. I promised I would keep in touch. I decided when we were officially moved into our home, I would call Abe.

I remembered that Dimitri had been about to tell me something before the doctor had returned. "What were you going to say?" I asked him curiously.

"Oh yeah, that," he told me quietly. "Well, feel free to say no. Remember, I thought of this when I thought you were having one baby. I was wondering if you would mind if I asked Viktoria to move in with us," he asked me nervously.

I looked at him shocked. "You want Viktoria to move in with us?" I confirmed.

He nodded. "I know she's having twins, but I also know she's had a rough time with her pregnancy. You make it so much easier on her. I think she feels bad because she is so young. And like you said, Karolina and Sonya have kids to take care of so they can't exactly always be there for her. But we can be. We could help her with her babies when they're born. With the three of us, eight babies should be a piece of cake," he joked.

I grinned at his attempt. "You know, this will make our whole food craving thing easier," I told him sincerely.

"So is that a yes?" He asked me hopefully.

"Absolutely!" I said excitedly. "I would love it if she moved in with us. She's so young, I know how scary it can be to be pregnant when you're still a teenager."

Dimitri looked at me confused. "Comrade, I'm still eighteen," I reminded him with a small smile.

He actually looked relieved. "Oh, right. I knew that," he told me. "I thought you meant when you were her age."

"I think you would know if I had been pregnant before, much less had sex before you," I pointed out. He was well aware that he had been the man I lost my virginity to.

He nodded. "I know. But you being a teenager is exactly why I think you would be good for her. She turns seventeen in a little over a month. It's scary to think that," he told me quietly.

We went the rest of the drive in silence. When we pulled up to his house, I finally broke our silence. "When are you going to ask her?" I asked him.

"After I ask my mom, which I'm going to do once we get inside," he told me. I nodded to him. We walked inside and parted ways. I couldn't face Sonya, Karolina, or Viktoria right now. I immediately went to the nursery. Mila was still sleeping, but Lera was awake. She was crying softly. I picked her up and she immediately calmed down.

"It's okay. Mommy's here," I told her quietly as I kissed her forehead. Looking down at Lera's precious form, I knew everything was going to be okay.


	19. Chapter 19

I sat down on the nursery floor holding Lera protectively in my arms. After a while of sitting on the ground with my thoughts pounding around my head, I started to talk to her. I knew she wouldn't understand me, but that just made it more tempting. "Let me tell you a little something about Daddy," I whispered to her. "Daddy is giving us four more babies. Four Lera. You're going to be a big sister to four babies. You should be excited. Don't tell Daddy, but I am excited."

Lera looked up at me. The sound of my voice seemed to be soothing her. "I know four babies is a lot, and we have you and Mila to take care of, but I couldn't be happier," I told her. "I can't believe you two are already three months old! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. You were so little back then."

Lera started crying a little bit. "You still are little," I told her. I kissed her forehead and rocked her a little bit until she calmed down. "You and Mila are my little girls. That's never going to change. But you were tiny when Dimitri and me first brought you home. I can't believe how much you've changed in three short months. You two were our little miracles. I'm sorry that you'll never get to know your real mommy, but I hope I will be good enough for you."

I don't know why I found it so comforting to talk to Lera. Maybe because I knew she wouldn't judge me. "You know, that is one of my biggest fears. I worry I won't be enough. Right now when it's just you and Mila, I know I'm okay, but four more babies? It scares me. I couldn't even handle staying at Court. We ran away from our problems, but I just couldn't deal with the alternative. I keep telling myself I did it for the babies, but what if it wasn't the right decision for the babies? What if I'm not going to be a good mother?" I asked her. I held her close to me. "I know in the future, we'll probably get into a lot of fights. We'll have a normal mother/ daughter relationship. I just hope I don't turn out like my mother. I don't want to abandon you to be raised by some Academy. No matter what happens, I promise I will be more involved in your life."

Mila started crying. I picked her up with my free arm and returned to my sitting position. They were nestled into my arms. They looked like they were about to fall asleep. "You too Mila. I didn't forget about you. You two will grow up into two beautiful young ladies before you know it. I will be there for you every step of the way," I told them. I kissed both of their foreheads. "And when you're older, I will tell you about your mommy. She was such a nice girl. So friendly. I'm sorry you guys didn't get to meet her and I'm sorry I won't have many memories to share with you. But I promise, I will do my best to give you as many memories as we possibly can make. I can never replace your real mommy, but I can do my best to give you a mommy."

I didn't realize I was crying until a drop fell on Lera's head. "I love you two, never doubt that. Even when there are four more kids in the house and I won't be able to give you as much attention, I will love you with all my heart," I told them honestly. "Let me tell you a secret. I never thought I would be able to love someone as much as I love daddy. I was wrong. I love you two just as much. I wasn't expecting to get you guys, but I am so happy I did. You girls have changed my life for the better. You give me hope that I will be a good mommy to you two. You give me hope that I can be a good mommy to your four younger siblings."

"Dimitri will be the best daddy to all six of you. He'll be able to handle it all. He's amazing like that," I told them. "I don't know how he does it, but he's amazing. He was my mentor you know. He used to train me to be a guardian. Funny how that worked. When I first met him, I thought I would hate him. Me and my best friend were on the run from the Academy. Daddy captured us and brought us back to the Academy. I tried to hate him, but I couldn't. We fell in love while we were supposed to be training. He was my mentor. I was his student. We weren't supposed to fall in love, but no matter what we tried, we couldn't fight our attraction. I was seventeen and he was twenty four, but age really was just a number to us. I think daddy sometimes forgets I'm only eighteen. I'm still a kid myself."

I looked down at them again. "I've never really been a kid myself have I?" I asked them. "I may act childish and immature sometimes, but I never really have been a kid. Daddy told me that I act young because I am young. He said that despite my youth, I have experienced more than many fully trained guardians. A few months after daddy brought us back to Academy, we went to a ski lodge. Mommy did something stupid. Daddy trusted me with some information, but I acted like a child. When I got mad at Daddy, I went and told my best guy friend about what he had told me. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life."

I looked down at my girls sadly. "Mason was killed because of me," I told them softly. "He came back in to save me. I always regretted not being able to save him. But, daddy helped me get over his death. When I tried to go back to practice, daddy told me that Mason's death wasn't my fault. I still may not entirely believe it, but I would be a mess if it weren't for him. That's why I know he's going to be such a great daddy to you. He always knows what to do and what to say."

I had faith in Dimitri's abilities, not so much mine. "When you girls get older, you are going to make tons of mistakes, but you will learn from them. Your mistakes will help you grow as a person. I can't wait to watch you girls grow up," I told them. "I love you very much. Daddy loves you too. You may not understand everything I've said, but that doesn't change its truth."

Mila and Lera fell asleep in my arms. I bit my lip as I looked at the wall across from me. "I wish I had the courage to tell Daddy everything I've told you, but I'm so afraid of disappointing him," I told them. I stood up and started to put them in their cribs. I put Lera in her crib and kissed her forehead. I did the same with Mila. Standing in front of both of their cribs, I looked at their sleeping figures. "How can I tell him that he is my strength? Without him, I would have fallen to pieces a long time ago. How can I tell him that I'm scared out of my mind to have four babies, but excited at the same time? How can I tell him that I don't know if I can be a good mommy? How can I me a good mom when I never had a mom in my life? How can I ask him this without him thinking I am weak?" It felt so good to get that all off my chest.

"By asking exactly that," a voice came from the doorway. I turned my head towards the door, my eyes widening with shock.


	20. Chapter 20

I looked up at Dimitri. "How… How long have you been standing there?" I asked him nervously.

"Since before you started talking," he admitted.

My nervousness immediately vanished, replaced by hard, cold anger. "You were listening in on me? You never once thought it would be appropriate to let me know you were here? The stuff I said Dimitri. You heard it all! Am I not allowed to keep anything to myself?" I asked him furiously.

"Roza," he said softly. "I can explain."

"No!" I yelled. "You had no right to listen in on my conversation!"

"Roza, I know you're mad, but you need to be quieter. You don't want to wake up Mila and Lera," he told me. I glanced at my sleeping babies. I don't know how they managed to sleep through my shouting, but I didn't want to risk waking them up. I stormed out of the nursery to the room Dimitri and I shared.

I knew he would follow me. I sat down on the bed with my arms crossed over my chest and looked at him with an angry expression. "I just didn't want to interrupt you," he told me after a long moment of silence. "You looked so torn before you started talking. You've looked like that pretty much since we've left Court. I don't know how to help you, so I figured it might help you to talk about it. I couldn't make myself leave. Roza, it kills me that you don't talk to me. That you choose to suffer in silence. I wish I could make you see that I want to help you. I want to help you erase all your doubts, but I can't do that if you don't talk to me."

Dimitri was crying. It broke my heart that it was my fault that he was like this. He was just looking after me. I stood up and fell to my knees before I could reach him. I started sobbing. And it wasn't a 'I leaked a couple of tears' sob. It was a 'runny nose, red eyes, enough tears to fill a river along with hyperventilation' sob.

I struggled to breathe. Dimitri rushed to my side. "I… I don't know if I can do this Dimitri," I cried into his shoulder. "I don't know if I can be enough. Will I be enough for Mila and Lera and our four babies on the way? Will I be able to be a good mother to them? I don't want to turn out like my mother. I can't be like my mother. No child deserves to go through that!"

"You won't be like that," he reassured me. He pushed me slightly so I wasn't kneeling but sitting down. He lowered my head so I would be able to breathe better. "You're going to be a great mother."

"How do you know?" I asked him desperately. "How do you know it won't be too much for me? Six babies Dimitri! Six!"

"Do you regret it?" He asked me quietly.

"I… what?" I asked him completely confused. I was still crying, but I was breathing better and wasn't making as much noise.

"Do you regret it? Do you regret getting pregnant? Do you regret adopting Mila and Lera?" He asked me. He was looking at me curiously. I really thought about his question.

I knew it was going to be difficult, but did I regret it. I thought about how I watched them grow so much in just three months. I thought about the first time I saw them smile or the first time I heard their infectious giggles. I thought about the one time we put them in the same crib and they snuggled up close to each other. They were so young, but they already acted like best friends. If Mila started crying, Lera would too, but the moment Mila was calm, Lera would be calm too. Mila was the same way with Lera. It was as if they were looking out for each other.

Thinking about all the memories I had of them, I knew my answer. My tears dried up. "No," I told him. "I don't regret any of it. I wouldn't want anyone else to take care of Mila and Lera. They are our little girls. And it's a miracle that we were able to have a baby together. I never knew I wanted children until I found a man I would want to have them with. I thought for the longest time we wouldn't be able to have kids. Now that we can, I couldn't be happier." Tears were streaming down my cheeks again, but now they were happy tears. "I love our babies already. I want them so much. I didn't know it was possible to love this much. I couldn't regret this even if I tried. Even though we're having quadruplets, I don't regret it."

"Then you have your answer," he told me. "If you don't regret your decision then you will be the best mother possible to all of these babies. You'll be an amazing mother because you want to be an amazing mother."

I looked at him surprised. Was it really that simple? I knew I was going to try my hardest to be a good mother. Is that really all that matters? Something told me he was right. "Thanks," I whispered to him.

"Any time," he told me, kissing my forehead. I leaned up and brushed my lips against his. He responded by crushing his lips to mine. Before our kiss could go any further, my stomach grumbled. I pulled back and looked down at my stomach annoyed.

He chuckled at my expression. "Let's get you something to eat," he told me. "I know my mother is probably going to throw together a huge lunch for us and Viktoria."

"Viktoria is moving in with us?" I squealed.

He nodded his head. "I asked her right after I talked to my mom," he told me.

I looked at him nervously. "Does she know about…" I trailed off, pointing at my stomach.

Dimitri shook his head. "I was planning on making that announcement with you during lunch," he told me.

I nodded nervously as he helped me to my feet. I wasn't sure how everyone would react, but I knew it would be interesting.


	21. Chapter 21

When we went to the kitchen, I was shocked to see Sydney was waiting for us in the kitchen. We had told her we weren't going to be doing any research for a couple of days while we get used to living in our new house.

"Sydney, what are you doing here?" I asked her confused.

"It's nice to see you too Rose," she told me, rolling her eyes. I looked at her expectantly. She sighed. "I'm going to be gone for about a month for alchemist business. I wanted to drop off a couple of files for you to look through while I'm gone." I looked towards where she was pointing.

I groaned. Of course she would come with a mountain of work. Literally. There were about five boxes overflowing with papers. "That's not a couple of files. That will take us weeks to go through," I complained.

"That's the idea. You'll be able to get something done while I'm gone," she said. "I won't be able to do any research. It would be dangerous to go snooping through alchemist records in the alchemist headquarters."

I sighed. I knew we didn't really have a choice. And I did really want to figure out how to help Lissa. Adrian had been looking more and more gloomy every time I saw him. He was started to think Lissa might never recover from what was bugging her. He also wasn't sure how much longer Christian would be able to hold on. She had been so bitchy towards him lately. I felt bad for Christian. As much as we liked to argue, we were close and I knew this would be killing him.

Once Sydney seemed content that I would indeed be doing the work she assigned us, she left. No one in the Belikov house, aside from Olena and Viktoria knew what why Sydney was in the house so much. Viktoria knew because we told each other everything during our pregnancies. She's even helped me look through some of the files. Viktoria really has become my best friend. She has in no way replaced Lissa, but it's nice to have someone to confide in and talk to. But Karolina, Sonya, and even Yeva are confused by Sydney's constant presence.

They knew better than to ask by now, but I could see the burning curiosity in their eyes, particularly Yeva. Well, I don't know that I saw curiosity in her eyes, it was more like annoyance. I think she's still bitter that she hasn't figured it out yet. Yeva usually just knows things, they come to her. I think the reason she can't figure this out is because we don't really know what we're looking for.

Dimitri and I took our seats at the kitchen table, ignoring the stares of Sonya, Karolina, and Yeva. Viktoria looked at us knowingly. Now that she was moving in with us, I knew we would be able to breeze through the files.

Karolina kept looking back and forth between the two of us. She looked ready to burst with her questions. Which I found odd, because she had displayed the least amount of interest in prying into what we were doing with Sydney. After a moment, I put down my fork and turned to her. "Did you want to ask us something Karolina?" I asked her amused.

She looked at me seriously. "Are you seriously not going to tell us how your doctor's appointment went?" She demanded.

I could barely contain my laughter. I must be getting paranoid. I should have known that's what Karolina would be dying to hear about. "No we are," I reassured her. "I was just starving. I have a lot of mouths to feed."

Dimitri chuckled at my joke. "You're having twins?" Sonya asked, her eyes sparkling.

I shook my head. "Rose, if you're octomom I can't move in with you anymore," Viktoria joked. I knew she wasn't serious. I could be having ten babies and she would still move in with us.

"You're moving in with them?" Karolina asked surprised.

Viktoria nodded excitedly. "Dimka asked me after their doctor's appointment," she explained. She turned back to me. "But seriously, you're not really octomom are you?" She looked legitimately nervous.

"Not exactly," Dimitri said, echoing our doctor's earlier words.

I couldn't stop my laughter that time. "Not even close," I corrected him.

Dimitri shrugged. "Half way there. I would say that's pretty close," he pointed out.

I heard several audible gasps and Olena dropped the dish rag she had been holding. "Four?" She asked shocked.

I nodded, smiling tentatively. "Four as in quadruplets?" Viktoria asked. She was excited now. I guess to her, anything was better than eight babies. I nodded once again. Then the kitchen exploded. Everyone was shouting at once, everyone wanted to hug us or congratulate us.

Olena still stood in her spot on the wall, looking pale and confused. "Are… are you sure?" She asked uncertainly.

I nodded. "The doctor wasn't able to get a definite picture, but it looks like one of them is hiding behind two of their siblings," I explained as I pulled out one of the ultrasound pictures. "She said there's a possibility there is only three babies and the fuzzy picture is making it look like four, but in her professional opinion, we're having four. We'll know for sure in six weeks."

Olena held the picture carefully as if it were made of glass. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" She asked uncertainly. "You're going to have six kids to take care of. Eight babies in one house."

I thought back to my breakdown I had before when I was with Dimitri. I looked Olena right in the eye. "We can handle it," I told her as I grabbed Dimitri's hand.

Olena looked down at our intertwined hands and smiled. "I know you can dear, I know you can," she told me sincerely. She pulled me into a gentle hug. "I'm so happy for you two!"

"Thanks mom," Dimitri and I said at the same time. Once everyone had congratulated us, Dimitri insisted I finish eating my lunch. As he constantly reminded me, I was eating for five.


	22. Chapter 22

We moved into our cozy little house. Well, it's not that little. It has a room for me and Dimitri, Viktoria, Mila and Lera, Viktoria's twins, my quadruplets, and we still have two extra bedrooms. Dimitri took Abe very seriously when he said he wanted the best house possible for me.

Before we went to our house, Dimitri took Viktoria to a hardware store so she could pick out paint for her room and for her babies' room. She of course picked a pink for her room and a baby blue for her nursery. She found a teddy bear lining that was adorable and would go amazing with the paint color she chose. Dimitri refused to buy it at first, but I saw how much she wanted it. When I joined forces with Viktoria, he was powerless. He bought the lining.

When we got home, we moved Viktoria's stuff into one of the spare bedrooms. Dimitri was ridiculously worried about paint fumes affecting her pregnancy so she was in the spare bedroom furthest from her actual bedroom.

Dimitri immediately started painting so Viktoria and I sprawled out in the living room, complaining about how Dimitri treats us like we are crippled. Mila and Lera were lying on thick blankets right in front of us. Both of them were fast asleep. Watching them sleep, I felt a little fearful.

"Do you think it's normal for them to sleep this much?" I asked Viktoria nervously. It seemed like they slept more than they should.

Viktoria nodded. "When Zoya was born, she would sleep several hours a day. The only difference between her and Mila and Lera is that when Zoya wasn't sleeping she was giving everyone a headache by shrieking," Viktoria told me.

I nodded as relief flooded me. "I just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong," I told her.

"Totally understandable," she reassured me. "You got lucky with those girls. I hope my boys are as good as your girls."

"Me too," I said with a grin. "This is a team effort."

She nodded. "I know. The three of us to take care of eight babies. This should be fun," she said a little sarcastically.

I chuckled. "That reminds me. We didn't think of names for your boys yet," I told her.

"How in the world did that remind you of baby names?" Viktoria asked amused.

I shrugged. "Stop avoiding the question," I told her. "Did you have any names in mind?"

She sighed. "I was thinking of naming one of them Nikolai, but I don't know," she admitted.

I studied her features. "Isn't Nikolai the one that was flirting with you when we went to the grocery store the other day?" I asked her.

She blushed. "He wasn't flirting with me," she said. I detected a note of longing in her voice. Did she wish he had been flirting with her?

"Vik?" I asked her. "Do you like this guy?"

She groaned out of frustration. "Kind of," she admitted. "For the longest time, I only thought of his as a friend. And then Rolan came along." Her face darkened slightly. "All of my friends kept telling me Kolya cared for me as more of a friend. I didn't want to believe it, because I really thought I loved Rolan. When I found out I was pregnant, I was still at school. Kolya was there for me. He talked to me for hours on end. I really started to fall for him. But when I came home, he distanced himself from me. And you know what? It sucks Rose. I never thought I would feel this way about my best friend. And I ruined it all by getting pregnant."

I stared at her. "You're kidding right?" I asked her shocked. "Of course he still likes you!"

She shook her head. "How could he like me? I'm huge. I'm pregnant with another man's baby!" Viktoria cried.

I stared at her for another moment. "Dimitri!" I called. "We're going out!"

He ran into the hallway. "Where are you going?" He asked. I could see he was going to try to stop us.

"We need some fresh air," I told him. Something in my voice must have convinced him I wasn't about to do something stupid… well at least not something dangerous. I started to search for the keys to the car. "Where are the keys?"

"Counter in the kitchen. Be careful Roza," he told me. He walked over to me and kissed me gently.

"I'll be back soon," I promised. He nodded and then let us go.

"Where are we going?" Viktoria asked once we were in the car.

"I'm going to play matchmaker," I told her with an evil grin. "How do we get to Nikolai's house?" She stared at me for a moment shocked. She looked like she was about to argue. "Viktoria, you and I both know I am more stubborn that you so I will definitely win this argument. Just give me the directions!"

She sighed and reluctantly led me to his house. To Viktoria's joy, his sister answered the door and told me he wasn't home. He was at the park. Viktoria thought I was just going to let it go. Poor Viktoria. She doesn't know me at all. I drove to the park and parked the car.

Before we got out of the car, I turned to her. "We are not leaving here until you tell him how you feel," I warned her, getting out of the car. It wasn't hard to find Nikolai. He was the only one at the park. He was sitting on one of the swings. I gently nudged Viktoria in his direction and went to sit on one of the park benches.

I could hear them from where I was sitting. I tried not to listen, but it was just too tempting.

"Nikolai," Viktoria said quietly.

"Vika?" He asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I came looking for you," she admitted. "Or rather Rose, the eavesdropper dragged me here to find you."

Uh oh. Busted. Not that that was going to stop me from listening in.


	23. Chapter 23

Viktoria turned to give me an evil grin. I looked away, pretending I hadn't been listening in.

"Why did Rose want you to come find me?" He asked confused.

"Oh, you know. I just wanted to get caught up with you? I haven't seen you in a while," Viktoria told him. Except she said it like a question so it sounded like she wasn't sure why she was here. I turned to spy on them. Viktoria knew I was listening, I might as well watch their body language so I can give her input later.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess I haven't seen you in a while," he admitted. He turned a little red. Interesting.

"Yeah. I've only seen you once or twice since we got out of school. Even then, we didn't have a lot of time to catch up with one another," Viktoria said. I could detect the wistful note in her voice.

"I guess I've just been busy," he told her. Even I could tell that was a lie, but Viktoria seemed oblivious to it. There was a moment of awkward silence. "So… um… Do you know what your having?" He asked uncomfortably.

Viktoria nodded. "I'm having two boys. They're due in nine weeks," she told him.

"Twins?" He asked surprised. He put his hands on her swollen stomach. "Hi boys," he whispered. Then he seemed to realize what he did. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."

"No, they liked it. That kick was a good sign," she told him earnestly. Oh, so that's why he pulled back.

"Do you… Do you like it?" He asked her nervously.

She shrugged. "I'm used to people putting their hands on my stomach by now," she told him. It took all of my self-control not to slap my hand to my head. He pretty much asked her if she was interested in him. She was so oblivious. I was really going to have to work on her observation skills with her.

"Oh, right," he said, looking as though she had rejected him. She looked surprised at the tone in his voice. I guess I should be happy that she noticed something.

"What's wrong Kolya?" She asked worriedly. If she wasn't pregnant, I would totally slap some sense into her. That poor boy is totally interested in her and she keeps making him think she's not interested in him.

"Nothing," he told her. "What are you naming them?"

She blushed. "I'm not sure yet," she admitted. "Rose has been helping me look into baby names."

"Oh," he said. He looked like he was searching for something to say. "Vika, why are you really here?" He asked uncomfortably.

"I came to see you," she said confused. "If you don't want me here, I could leave." She started to get up. He grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"No!" He said. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" Viktoria asked confused.

"I… nothing. I just was wondering why you were here," he told her.

"I told you Kolya, I missed you. I got to see you so much at school. I miss seeing you," she admitted, looking at the ground.

"I missed you too," he said quietly.

"So what have you been up to all summer?" She asked him. I internally groaned. Oh Viktoria. I wish I could communicate with her somehow so that she would stop being so stupid.

"I've just been helping my mom out around the house," he told her with a shrug. "I spend a lot of time here."

"Why?" She asked curiously.

"It helps me clear my mind and think. With all my sisters at home, it's a little noisy. I can usually find peace and quiet here," he told her with a far off look in his eyes.

"I know what you mean," Viktoria told him. "Rose and Dimka adopted twins. Between them Paul and Zoya, it's hard to find a moments silence."

"It's going to get even harder for you, I'm sure," he told her quietly.

Viktoria nodded. "I'm ready for that though. I don't know how to explain it," she told him. "I'm not upset about being pregnant anymore. I'm sad it happened when I'm so young and I'm sad they aren't going to have a father in their life, but I'm excited to have them." She started rubbing her stomach. "They're my baby boys."

"You don't want Rolan to be in their lives?" He asked bitterly. Oh my lord. It is so painfully obvious that they have feelings for each other. Why are they being so oblivious? I'm ready to just go up to them and tell them.

"I told you at school I didn't want anything to do with him. It was a mistake. I regret sleeping with him," she told him a little sharply.

"I'm sorry," he said looking down at the ground.

"Why do you care anyway?" Viktoria asked him harshly.

"Because I don't know… Forget about it," he told her testily. Uh oh. This may not end well.

"I just can't figure you out Kolya! One minute, you make me think you're interested in me and then the next you're all cold and indifferent," Viktoria said angrily. She stood up. "You know what! I love you! I fell in love with you when we were at school and you were helping me through the early stages of my pregnancy. Every time you held my hair while I was puking meant something to me! Every time you let me cry into your shoulder and told me everything was going to be okay, meant something to me. And I know that I'm huge and pregnant with another man's baby and that you don't love me back, but I just…"

He jumped to his feet and pulled her towards him. He crushed his lips to hers, effectively cutting her off. I looked away, giving her privacy for her big moment. Finally, I thought.

I didn't realize I said 'finally' out loud until I heard Viktoria's giggles. "I knew you were listening," she said victoriously. Nikolai had an arm around her back and she rested her head on his shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. "I thought you two would never realize you love each other," I said with a sigh. Both of them blushed. "So, because I believe you are in the awkward, 'we know we like each other stage but we're not quite together' stage, I'm going to go wait in the car."

I walked off to the car. About fifteen minutes later, Viktoria joined me. "Thank you," she said to me quietly.

"So did he ask you out?" I asked her hopefully.

She nodded at me with a huge grin on her face. "He wants to take me out to dinner in three days," she told me.

I grinned at her. "I'm glad to hear it," I told her sincerely. And I was. I was happy she found a boy her age that feels so strongly for her. "I hope you told him he's welcome at our house at any time."

She nodded with a twinkle in her eyes. "Not going to lie, he seemed pretty excited when I told him I was living with you guys," she told me.

I frowned slightly. I had to hope that since he had a pregnant girlfriend his excitement over her living away from her mom had nothing to do with sex. Regardless, I'm glad they cleared things up. Viktoria deserves someone.


	24. Chapter 24

When we got home, Dimitri was sitting anxiously in the kitchen. When we got up, he came up to me and pulled me into a hug. "Are you okay?" He asked as he checked me to make sure I was okay.

"I'm fine Comrade," I promised him. He kissed me lightly.

"You were gone so long, I got worried," he told me. I rolled my eyes at him.

"You're so overprotective," I told him.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking," Viktoria said sarcastically.

"If you weren't okay Vik, you would have said something the moment you walked in the door," Dimitri pointed out. "Rose on the other hand would definitely suffer in silence."

I rolled my eyes at him. My stomach grumbled and I turned to Dimitri. "I hope you made dinner," I told him.

He grinned at me and kissed my lips, making me forget about dinner. "Yes, I did," he told me.

Crap. I looked back and forth between him and the kitchen. Viktoria immediately walked into the kitchen and I heard the scraping of a spoon against a bowl. I started crying, unable to make up my mind. I wasn't sure what I wanted more. Food or Dimitri.

Dimitri pulled me into his arms. "Why are you crying?" He asked me quietly.

"Because all I want to do is eat and have sex and I can't figure out which one I want to do more. I feel like a teenage boy," I complained.

Dimitri looked like he was struggling to keep a straight face. "How about you go eat now and then later on once Mila, Lera, and Viktoria are asleep, we can satisfy your other… uh desires?" He asked seductively.

I instantly felt better. I leaned up and crushed my lips to his. "Who needs to eat?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck and lost myself in the kiss.

"You need to eat Roza," he told me, breaking the kiss.

I looked at him. "I knew it. You don't want me anymore because I'm fat," I said to him sadly.

"Rose you are not fat! You're barely even showing," he told me, trying to reassure me.

"Barely showing? Viktoria was this size when she was five months," I complained.

"You're having two more babies than Viktoria," he told me. "Which is why you need to eat. You have four babies to feed."

I sighed, knowing he was right. "Fine," I said grumpily. I stormed into the kitchen and stopped when I saw a delicious scene before me. Dimitri had gone all out for dinner. I had no idea what the food was, but it looked amazing. I filled my plate with food and sat down. There was chicken with an amazing seasoning. Pasta with a creamy sauce. Salad, which I was totally planning on skipping until Dimitri forced me to eat some. He also had a chocolate cake sitting on the oven. I kept looking at it all through dinner. I could not wait to eat it.

I enjoyed every bite of the dinner. When I had finished, I picked up Mila and Lera and fed them. After I had burped them, I went to their nursery. The nursery was a pale yellow. We had decided to keep their nursery relatively plain. Adrian had salvaged most of the things from our apartment at Court and sent them to us. I don't know how much it must have cost to send two cribs, a bookshelf, and all of the decorations to us, but I'm betting it wasn't cheap. To say Dimitri was ecstatic that he had saved his little cowboy mobile was an understatement.

I put Mila and Lera down carefully on the little rug near the bookshelf in their room. I picked up one of the western children's books. I would never admit it to Dimitri, but every other night I would read them one of his westerns. I hated them myself, but if they want to be interested in westerns, it's not my place to stop them. It's not like they can understand what I'm reading anyway. I read to them and by the time I was finished, they were asleep. I put them in their cribs, kissed their foreheads, and went back to the kitchen.

I got to the kitchen door and hesitated outside when I heard my name. Eavesdropping is the theme with this family right?

"Rose is so young. Are you sure you're ready for this Dimka?" Viktoria asked him quietly.

"I'm sure. Rose may be young, but she is wise beyond her years. I know she can handle this. And you're not one to talk about being young," Dimitri told her.

"I'm having twins, not quadruplets," Viktoria retorted.

I could almost picture Dimitri shrugging at that. "It doesn't make a difference. Rose and I are ready for this. If you hadn't known Rose was eighteen, would you have guessed that? Think of everything she's done," he told her. "She's seen things and experienced things way beyond people much, much older than her. She's revolutionized the moroi world just at the age of eighteen. I know she can handle this. I have faith in her."

Not going to lie, I started to tear up at his words. "But four babies Dimka? On top of your twins," Viktoria asked.

"You've seen how Rose is with Mila and Lera. She just has a way with them. I never would have guessed that she would be like that with those kids. I can't even get them to calm down like that," he told her. "She's amazing with those twins. She balances it out perfectly. She reads to them every night. I don't know how she does it. I can't even hold both of them at the same time, yet she manages to do everything she needs to with those girls in her arms. It's amazing. I almost have to wonder where she got those skills from, because it certainly wasn't from her own mother."

"I just hope your right Dimka," Viktoria said worriedly.

"I am Vika. I am," he reassured her.

I decided it was time to make my presence known. I walked into the kitchen and saw that Viktoria was finishing up her piece of cake. Dimitri had cut me a huge piece of chocolate cake and was taking it out of the microwave when I walked in. He handed it to me. It was warm and gooey, absolutely delicious.

Viktoria went to bed shortly after. I ate my cake while Dimitri did the dishes. You would think that our big, fancy house would have a dish washer, but no. We still have to do dishes by hand. By the time I had finished my cake, he was done with the dishes, which I'm sure he had planned.

He took my plate and washed it quickly before putting it on the dish rack so it could dry. Once he had done that, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, or at least as far as they would go. "What was that about satisfying my other desires?" I asked him seductively.

He grinned at me. He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. Slowly, without breaking the kiss, we made our way to our bedroom. This was going to be a fun night.


	25. Chapter 25

The next few weeks passed quickly. Viktoria got closer with Nikolai and it was nice to see her so happy all the time. We trudged through all the paperwork Sydney left us in three weeks. Surprise, surprise, we didn't find anything useful in all that paperwork. If Lissa weren't my best friend, I would have given up by now. Sydney has been gone almost six weeks now, which makes us think she will be back soon, with mountains of work to do.

Viktoria is on bed rest now. She's due in less than a week and she is so excited. Nikolai is excited to. He was ecstatic when Viktoria told him she wanted to name one of the babies after him. It took a long time, but we finally decided what to name the other baby. I pulled my rank and got her to name him John. Johnny and Kolya. I felt like the names worked together.

And I am huge. I'm not even exaggerating. I, at four months, am almost as big as my nine months along sister in law. Well, not really, but I am pretty close. I do not look only four months pregnant. It's not fair.

I woke up early to the smell of bacon. I hoped it was Dimitri cooking, and sure enough when I reached out, the bed was empty. It took me a couple of minutes to get out of bed. Carrying four babies is no joke. It's hard to move around.

When I finally got out of bed, I didn't even bother getting dressed. I just through my robe on over my nightgown and wobbled my way towards the kitchen.

"How are you feeling Roza?" Dimitri asked without turning around. I don't know how he knew I was here. I did not make a sound.

"I'm fine," I told him, same as I did every morning.

He handed me a granola bar and a vitamin for the babies. He also handed me a cup of orange juice. He always does this. Gives me a little something to eat while he cooks. He was in the process of cooking about five pounds of bacon. The sad thing is, between me and Viktoria, we would eat it all. There was a bowl to the side of the stove that was filled with pancake mix. It had either blueberries or chocolate chips in it. I couldn't tell from where I was sitting. I was hoping for the latter, but knowing Dimitri, it was probably blueberries.

"Are those chocolate chips or blueberries?" I asked him curiously.

"Chocolate chips," he told me. My jaw practically dropped.

"You're letting me eat chocolate chip pancakes?" I asked him confused.

"Yes, as long as you eat your fruit first," he told me. He turned so I could see what he was doing. He was cutting up fruit and putting it in a bowl for me. I made a face. "I saw that."

"You're back is to me!" I protested.

"You're right. I guess I just know you well enough to know you would be making a face at your fruit," he told me amused.

I rolled my eyes. He finished cutting up the fruit and handed me the bowl. My eyes widened as I looked at it. "How can one person possibly eat this much fruit?" I asked him incredulously.

"Good thing you're eating for five then right?" He asked me with a grin.

I groaned, but started to eat. While I was eating, he started to make the pancakes. When I finished the fruit, I handed him the empty bowl. He gave me a plate with about ten pieces of bacon and three huge pancakes. Usually he doesn't let me eat this unhealthy. "What's the occasion?" I asked him jokingly.

"You really forgot didn't you?" He asked me.

"Forgot wha… Oh!" I gasped as understanding dawned on me. "We have a doctor's appointment today!"

He chuckled. "How could you forget? It's all you've been talking about for the past week," he teased.

"No it's not," I said defensively.

"Yes it is," Viktoria said from the entrance of the kitchen.

I turned to look at her surprised. I didn't even notice she was there. "Of course you would take his side," I told her.

"Well yeah. All I've heard for days is 'I'm going to find out what I'm having', 'I hope one of them is a girl', 'I can't wait to see the babies!' I'm glad this day is finally here," Viktoria told us.

I rolled my eyes at her. "I have not been that bad," I retorted.

"Yes you have," Dimitri and Viktoria said at the same time.

I made a face at them and stood up. "Where are you going?" Dimitri asked me.

"To be with people who aren't so judgmental," I told him annoyed. I abandoned my food and stormed off to the nursery.

I wanted to make him think I was mad at him, even though I would have gotten up anyway. I had to feed Mila and Lera. Feeding them became difficult as I could no longer hold them both at the same time, but I figured out a system. I would bring them to the kitchen one at a time and lay them down on the blanket in there. Then I would prop them up against me so I can feed them both at the same time.

They were so big now. Hard to believe that in three weeks they were going to be five months old. Poor Mila recently started teething. She is so crabby, but I can't really blame her. It must be miserable to teeth. I'm so happy it happens when they're a baby so they can't remember it.

Watching Mila scrunch up her face in pain is heartbreaking, but there really isn't much we can do for it. Dimitri and I both read to her and comfort her. We do everything we can.

After I fed them and gave Mila her teething ring, I brought them back to the nursery to dress them. They are finally at the age where I can dress them up in really cute outfits. Needless to say, I am quite enjoying this part of parenting.


	26. Chapter 26

"We're going to take you to see Aunt Sonya, and Aunt Karo, and grandma, and Babushka," I told my girls as we strapped them into the car. "You're going to have such a fun time while mommy and daddy are at the doctors, checking on your younger siblings."

Dimitri grinned. "Are you done talking to them yet?" He asked me amused.

"No," I said as I stuck my tongue out at him. I tried to find something else to say to them, but I couldn't. I kissed their foreheads and then got into the passenger seat of the car.

"Why do you always get to sit in the passenger seat of the car?" Viktoria asked in a whiny voice. She was in the back with the babies.

"It's my car," I told her.

"Our car," Dimitri quickly corrected.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Fine our car. Which means Dimitri and I get priority of the passenger seat. Since Dimitri refuses to let me drive, I get the passenger seat," I told her smugly.

Viktoria groaned. "I'm almost nine months pregnant. I need my space," she complained.

"I'm carrying quadruplets. I win," I told her.

She rolled her eyes at me. Before she could complain again, we were at the house. Dimitri helped her inside then came back out to help me bring in Mila and Lera.

The moment we were in the house, we were attacked by Olena fussing over us. By us, I mean me and Viktoria. I think Olena thinks Dimitri overworks us. Which completely blows my mind because Dimitri doesn't let us do anything.

It took me almost thirty minutes to escape… I mean leave for my appointment. When we finally got in the car, Dimitri sped off. "And this is exactly why I told you we should leave earlier to come here," Dimitri told me.

I rolled my eyes at him. "We go to visit her every couple of days. You'd think she would be used to seeing us by now," I told him with a sigh. I loved Olena and all, but all of her attention was a little overwhelming.

He chuckled. "She's never going to get used to it. It was different when we were staying under her roof. Karo and Sonya were with her throughout all of their pregnancy. They raised her grandchildren in her house. Us not living with her, it's new to her," he explained.

I sighed. I understood, but that doesn't mean I like it. I don't like being fussed over. "I guess I understand," I admitted.

"But you don't like it," Dimitri finished my thoughts. I grinned at him.

"I've taught you well comrade," I said jokingly.

Dimitri rolled his eyes. "You haven't taught me anything," he retorted.

"Oh?" I asked raising both of my eyebrows. "Nothing?" I asked innocently.

He looked at me suspiciously. "What are you getting at?" He asked me.

I shrugged, trying not to look insulted. "I guess I didn't teach you that it's okay to let people in. I guess I didn't teach you there are always people in your life you can trust. I guess I didn't teach you that our love can beat anything," I said, not looking at him. As I was talking to him, it dawned on me that he may really think I haven't taught him anything. Maybe I haven't.

To my surprise, he pulled the car over. "Roza," he said softly, turning my head so I was looking at him. "You taught me all of that and then some. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings before. I wasn't being serious."

"It's not your fault," I admitted reluctantly. "I'm an emotional mess."

He leaned over and brushed his lips against mine. "You're not an emotional mess. You're just pregnant. You're handling it remarkably well, really. Karo was worse than you when she was only carrying one baby. You're carrying four. It's natural to feel a little emotional," he assured me.

I smiled at him and leaned in for another kiss. He broke it too soon. I glared at him.

He chuckled. "We have to get to your appointment," he reminded me.

I sighed. "Let's go," I told him. He pulled back into the street and drove towards the OBGYN office.

Because we were running a little late, we were able to go right into the exam room. "We should be late more often," I whispered to Dimitri while we were waiting for the doctor.

He rolled his eyes at me. "You're late for everything. It wouldn't kill you to be on time for something," he retorted.

"But when we're on time, all we have to do is wait," I complained. "When we're late, we get to go right in."

He groaned. "We still have to wait for the doctor," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but when we're on time we have to wait for the doctor and wait in the waiting room. Face it comrade. Nothing good comes from being on time," I told him.

He rolled his eyes at me. He was spared having to think of another argument by the doctor entering the room. She told me to lie down while she got her equipment ready. After a couple of minutes, she was ready.

I lifted up my shirt to expose my swollen stomach. "This will be cold," she told me. I tried to mentally prepare myself, remembering how cold it was last time. I couldn't help the gasp that escaped me when she put the cold gel on my stomach.

She moved the wand across my stomach. "Ah. I see… one, two, three, four. Four babies," she told us with a smile. I clutched Dimitri's hand tightly in my own. It's official. Four babies. "Do you want to know what you're having?" She asked us.

We both nodded. She moved the wand around my stomach a little more and pressed some buttons so they would focus. "Baby number one is a little girl. Baby number two is also a little girl," she told us. "Baby number three is a girl and finally, baby number four. A little girl. Congratulations. You're having four girls."

Dimitri's jaw dropped. The doctor went to print out the ultrasound pictures. "Thank god Viktoria is having boys," Dimitri muttered under his breath.

I grinned at him. "What's wrong Comrade? The idea of having six little girls in the house too much for you?" I asked him amused.

"No. The idea of having six hormonal teenage girls in the house terrifies me," he told me. "They're not dating until they're thirty."

"That's a little hypocritical isn't it?" I asked teasingly.

"Not at all," he insisted.

"Right, because you didn't have a relationship with your seventeen year old student," I said, rolling my eyes.

He chuckled. "That was different. Neither of your parents were in the picture," he pointed out. "We are both in the picture."

"You're going to be a ridiculously overprotective father aren't you?" I asked him.

He nodded. "I'm going to chase away any boy that tries to put their hands on them," he told me seriously.

I chuckled. I looked down at my stomach. "Don't worry. I won't let daddy ruin your relationships," I promised them. "I'll protect you."


	27. Chapter 27

Eleven days later, I was woken up at 2:00 in the morning. "Rooooooooose!" Viktoria screamed. I pushed off of Dimitri to give me the momentum to jump out of bed. Poor Dimitri fell out of bed. I walked to her bedroom as quickly as possible.

"What's wrong Vika?" I asked her.

"My water broke," she gasped. I took a deep breath and tried to calm her. We knew this was going to happen any day. She was due a little less than a week ago.

"Dimitri!" I screamed. I rushed around her room, grabbing the baby bag we had packed weeks ago. I didn't have the strength to help her stand up right now, mostly because I was almost five months pregnant and it was 2:00 in the morning.

Dimitri rushed into the room. "Vika's going into labor," I told him. He instantly pulled out his phone.

"Karo? I'm really sorry. I need you to come over… now!" He told her urgently.

He helped Viktoria stand up and we walked to the car. Just as we got everything loaded, Karolina pulled up. She didn't ask questions, she just ran into the house to look after Mila and Lera.

I sat in the back with Viktoria while Dimitri sped to the hospital. While he drove, I tried to distract her. "Geez Vik. Could you have chosen a worse time to go into labor?" I asked her jokingly.

She growled at me. "I'm sure you'll be laughing when you go into labor," she told me through clenched teeth.

"Breathe Vik," I reminded her. She obediently took deep breathes. "And I highly doubt I will even go into labor. We scheduled the C-section today. And I am happy to say I won't be at 2:00 in the morning," I told her.

"Lucky b-" She started to say.

"Watch the language," I warned her before she could finish. "There are six babies in this car."

She rolled her eyes. "Lucky duck," she said sarcastically.

I grinned at her. "The perks of carrying quadruplets," I said with a shrug.

She growled at me. I tried to keep her distracted and before we knew it, we were pulling up to the emergency room. We rushed inside. "My sister. My sister is going into labor," he told the receptionist anxiously. I saw her check him out. I clenched my jaw, trying to control my anger.

She turned to me. "When were you due?" She asked me.

I looked at her angrily. I know I'm younger than Dimitri and all, but I'm not that much younger. And really? Do I really look more pregnant than Viktoria? I know I just scolded Viktoria for her language, bet the receptionist pissed me off. "Really? You think I'm his fucking sister? Not the girl that is leaning on him that looks just like him? Not the girl that is all sweaty and looks like she's in pain. Seriously, how stupid can you be? I happen to be his fucking wife so you can stop checking him out and help his younger sister who is obviously the one going into labor!" I shouted. I attracted the attention of everyone in the room, but I didn't care.

The receptionist stared at me shocked. "I…" She started to say.

"Get a move on it!" I told her harshly. "She's in labor!"

The receptionist paged a nurse who materialized out of nowhere with a wheelchair. We left Dimitri in the waiting room. "Call Nikolai," I told him as I followed her into the delivery room. We had discussed this previously. She wanted me in there with her.

I was going to push aside my discomfort for her. I stood by her side, reminding her to breathe while the doctors and nurses got ready. "You're at nine centimeters. Next time you feel a contraction, I need you to push," the nurse told her.

It took hours and hours before the first baby came out. Every contraction, Viktoria would curse out Rolan and wish horrible deaths on him. I never knew she was so creative. I think I was almost as exhausted as Viktoria. The first boy came out screaming his tiny head off. Fifteen minutes later, the next boy came. "You did it Vik," I told her proudly. "You did it!"

Viktoria looked relieved and exhausted. The nurses handed her one of the baby boys. She handed me the other ones. You can tell my looking at them that they aren't going to be identical. One has black curly hair on their head and the other has light brown hair. I was holding the one with the curly black hair. Viktoria looked at the baby in my arms. "Johnny," she said softly.

I grinned at the little baby. "Johnny," I whispered to him. I held him tightly in my arms. He was so precious. "I'm your Aunt Rose."

I looked back to Viktoria. She was looking at Kolya with big eyes. "Kolya," she whispered. "I'm… I'm your mommy." Tears started to stream down her face. "I love you."

I didn't realize I was crying to until I went to rub my eyes and my hand came back wet. "They're beautiful Vik," I told her happily.

She nodded. "I sure made some beautiful babies," she said with a grin. The nurse took the babies from us and put them in the hospital bassinets. Viktoria was ready to pass out. I went out to the waiting room to find Dimitri while Viktoria was moved to a hospital room.

I almost laughed when I walked out into the waiting room. Dimitri was sitting in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs. He had his hands clasped together as if he were praying. His forehead was resting on his hands and his mouth was open so a little bit or drool was slipping out of his mouth. Times like this where I wished I had a camera.

I remembered my phone had a built in camera so I pulled it out and snapped a picture before I went to wake him up. I gently shook him and he snapped awake. He jumped to his feet alert. "Roza?" He asked uncertainly.

"The one and only," I said with a grin.

"Is everything alright? You were in there such a long time! Is Vika alright? And the babies?" He asked without taking a breath.

"Hold your horses cowboy," I teased. "Everything's fine. It was just a very long, long labor."

"You look exhausted," he told me sympathetically as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I shrugged. "Do you want to go see her?" I asked him. I knew he would be dying to see her, even if she was asleep.

We walked out of the waiting room towards Viktoria's hospital room. She was fast asleep with the two bassinets by the side of her bed. Dimitri's eyes locked on the babies.

I walked over to them. I gestured toward the baby with the black hair. "This ones Johnny," I told him quietly. "He's Kolya."

Dimitri grinned at the babies. "Hello, I'm your uncle Dimka," he said in a baby voice. "Welcome to our world."


	28. Chapter 28

Everything died down after Viktoria had her babies. Three more months passed without incidence. We had a little welcome home party for the babies when they came home a week after they were born. Let me tell you, Viktoria's babies have a set of lungs. How do I know this you may ask? Well for the first month they were home, they were quiet maybe a total of five minutes. They made me appreciate how lucky I was that Mila and Lera were such quiet babies.

Sydney came back about two weeks after Viktoria gave birth. She apologized to no end for taking longer than expected. She compensated for it by giving as twice as much work as before. Wasn't that nice of her? Not.

My C-section was scheduled to be in two weeks and I could not wait. I was hormonal and huge, not a good combination. When I say huge, I mean huge. I am usually a small person. I'm short and have a petite frame. So add a four baby pregnant belly to that and I look like a house.

That night, Adrian visited me in my dreams. It was the first time I've seen him in almost two weeks. We were in a park. After I had hit the six month mark, Adrian started choosing places that had a bench or a chair for me to sit on. It was a very pretty park. The leaves were yellow and orange the way they only are in the fall. Some were on the ground in piles that if I weren't eight and a half months pregnant, I would totally jump in them.

Something distracted me from fully taking in the scenery and that was the look of desperation on Adrian's face. He looked like his world was ending.

"Adrian, what's wrong?" I asked him anxiously as I wobbled to his side. We both took a seat on the park bench.

"Lissa broke up with Christian," he told me. His words didn't make sense. He must have said it wrong.

"You mean Christian broke up with Lissa right?" I asked him confused.

He shook his head, his worry clouded his eyes. "No. She broke up with him," he told me softly.

"What? Why?" I asked him. Seeing the haunted look in his eyes, I had to ask. "How?"

"She was harsh. She did it in front of everyone. Said she couldn't be with him because…" He hesitated.

"Because what Adrian?" I asked him. I knew this wasn't going to be good.

"Because his parents turned Strigoi and she knew he wasn't very far off. It was too degrading for the queen of the moroi world to associate with someone from such a disgraced family," he said. He wasn't looking at me. I knew he was hiding something.

"There's something else isn't there?" I guessed.

He sighed at me and nodded. "She said that his aunt tried to kill the queen and she can't risk him following in her footsteps. She actually has him locked up in the Court prisons right now," he told me.

My jaw dropped. "Have you gone to see him?" I asked him.

He looked at me with a smug smile. "He isn't allowed visitors," he told me.

"But I'm guessing that didn't stop you?" I asked, trying to hide my amusement. This was too serious for me to be amused.

"Of course not. I'm not a spirit user for nothing," he told me smugly.

"And?" I asked anxiously.

"You should call him. I'm sure he wants to hear from you," Adrian told me seriously.

"He's in prison Adrian. How am I supposed to call him?" I asked confused.

"I guess it's possible I slipped him a pre-paid cell phone," Adrian told me with a shrug.

I hugged Adrian. "You're smarter than people give you credit for, you know that?" I told him jokingly.

"Thanks little dhampir. I'm flattered you finally noticed my inner genius," he said with a lazy grin.

I rolled my eyes. "Genius is pushing it," I told him.

He rolled his eyes at me. "So little dhampir, when are the little monsters coming?" He asked patting my stomach.

I may have overreacted a little bit, but really, he should know better. My mood swings have been in full swing. "There are not monsters!" I screeched. "They are beautiful baby girls! You're the monster." I then proceeded to push him off the bench.

He got up off the ground, sporting several scrapes and a bruise on the side of my head. "I didn't mean it Rose, I was joking," he told me.

His sincere tone and the fact that he called me Rose instead of little dhampir led me to believe him. "Fine," I said, still a little grumpy from his comment.

"If it will make it up to you, your kids can call me Uncle Addy when they learn how to talk," he offered.

I looked at him shocked. About two months ago, I asked him what he would want my kids to call him. I suggested Uncle Addy or Uncle Adrian. After he got over the shock that I wanted my kids to look at him as an uncle, he point blank refused Uncle Addy. "Agreed," I said with a huge smile. I looked down at my stomach. "Hi babies. This is your uncle Addy."

I looked at him pointedly. "Wha- oh," he said as he realized what I wanted him to do. He looked down to my stomach uncomfortably. "Hi girls. I'm your uncle Addy. I'm going to be your favorite uncle."

"I don't know," I teased him. "They might like Uncle Sparky better."

Adrian snorted. "I thought you were joking when you said that before. I didn't think you were actually going to raise your kids to call Christian uncle Sparky," he told me, trying to hide his laughter.

I shrugged. "Christian is too hard for a little kid to say. It's his own fault he flaunts the fact that he's a fire user," I pointed out.

Adrian nodded. "I guess that makes sense," he admitted.

"If it makes him feel better, maybe I'll get them to call Mia Aunt Aqua," I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "Little dhampir, you need better jokes," he told me.

I shrugged. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes. "Adrian…" I started nervously. "How are my parents?"

Adrian's face fell. "Rose, I need to tell you something," he told me. Uh oh. That's not good.


	29. Chapter 29

"Rose, your parents left. I figured Abe would have been in contact with you, or I would have told you earlier," Adrian said, pointedly avoiding eye contact.

"Why did they leave?" I asked him shocked.

"I don't think I'm the right person to tell you this," he said. But I could see the truth. He didn't want me to know.

"Adrian," I warned. "I have a right to know this."

"Lissa tried to put your mother in prison," Adrian told me reluctantly.

"Why would Lissa try to put my mother in prison?" I asked him, completely confused. "What did my mother do?"

"Nothing," Adrian admitted. "After Lissa tried to kill herself…"

"LISSA TRIED TO KILL HERSELF?" I shrieked. "WHEN DID LISSA TRY TO KILL HERSELF?"

"I guess I forgot to mention that huh?" Adrian asked.

"You think?" I asked him angrily. "What happened?"

"About a week ago, Lissa cut her wrists," he told me quietly. "She was having a sleepover with Avery. It's lucky Avery was there or Lissa might not have survived."

I was scared now. "What is going on with her?" I asked worriedly. "How is Avery handling it?" The last time I saw Adrian, he was really worried about Avery. He says she's constantly worried about Lissa's behavior. Rumors had also started to spread around court about Lissa.

"Avery isn't happy about it. She was so grateful I decided to crash their sleepover when I did. She couldn't hold Lissa up. She seems so disappointed in Lissa," he said with a sigh. "I don't know how to make this better."

I looked at him sadly. "I wish I could help," I told him frustrated.

"Oh no little dhampir. You have to stay where you are. Keep looking through the moroi records. Maybe look into some of the moroi suicides. See if anyone had something similar happen to them before they killed themselves," he suggested.

I sighed. "I will. I'm going to find out what's happening with Lissa," I told him. "I don't care what it takes. It's been so long Adrian. Nine months. What could be controlling her for nine months?"

"I don't know little dhampir. I don't know," he told me sadly.

We sat in silence for a few more minutes. Until I realized that he never answered my earlier questions. "Adrian, you never told me why Lissa tried to arrest my mom," I told him.

He sighed. "I would have thought that would be obvious. She wanted to use her as bait. She so desperately wants you to come back," he said. "But you can't come back Rose. You can't. I accidentally heard one of her plans the other day when she was talking to Avery."

"I wasn't planning on coming back," I promised him. "But, what was her plan?"

Adrian looked very uncomfortable. "I told Avery about you having more than one baby," he told me quietly. "I think she might have accidentally told Lissa."

"What difference does that make?" I asked him confused.

Adrian looked at the floor. "Lissa was under the impression that she would be able to take two of your babies and leave you with the other two. She said everyone would be happy," he told me. "Before you say anything, there's something else. She wanted to be able to… um… study the… um… baby and compare it to other fetuses."

"How exactly was she going to compare it to a fetus?" I asked him confused. He stared at me. Then it clicked. "No. She wouldn't."

Adrian looked at me. "I don't know what's going on with her Rose, but she's getting worse," he told me.

"Enough to hurt one of my babies?" I asked him terrified.

"I hope not," he said. "But the way she's been going I don't know. That's why you can't come back."

I couldn't wrap my head around that. I would have to file it away for later. "But I still don't understand. Why did Lissa think I would come for my mom? My mom could handle prison. Hell, she probably could break out of prison if she had to," I said.

"Janine wouldn't have been able to escape prison," he said with certainty. "If Abe hadn't found her while they were arresting her, she would have been stuck there."

"But why?" I asked confused. "I know my mom. She's a badass guardian. Why didn't she just fight back?"

"She couldn't risk getting hurt," Adrian explained.

I stared at him blankly. "She's kind of in the wrong job field then," I told him.

Adrian shook his head. "Rose, I don't think you understand. Your mom is pregnant," he told me. He ended the dream right after he dropped that bombshell.

I woke up in bed crying. Dimitri held me close to him while I told him everything Adrian told me in my dream. "I'm scared Dimitri. If this keeps up, we'll never get to go back there. Our babies will never be safe," I sobbed. "And I want to know my little brother or sister. I want to be in their life!"

"Shhh Roza, it's okay. We'll figure out what's going on with Lissa," he tried to reassure me. "Everything will be okay."

"But what if it's not?" I asked him. "What if the reason we can't find anything to help her is because something like this has never happened before?"

"Roza, we'll figure it out. Even if it's the first time it's happening, we'll figure out what's going on," he promised me. "You need to calm down."

I took a deep breath and a huge pang of pain ripped through me. I gasped. "Rose?" Dimitri asked confused.

"Uh oh," I whispered. I had never felt a pain like this, but I knew exactly what it meant. It meant my babies wanted out. My C-section wasn't for two weeks. This was bad. I couldn't hold in my cry of pain as another contraction ripped through me.

Now I knew why the doctor said to avoid excitement. Why oh why couldn't I listen to her?

"Roza? What's wrong?" Dimitri asked terrified.

Viktoria ran into our room to see what was wrong. "Hospital. Now!" I gasped out.

"I'll watch the babies," she promised us. I barely noticed. I felt like I was dying.

Dimitri scooped me up and sprinted out to the car. We hadn't bothered packing a baby bag, because we weren't expecting for me to actually go into labor. When you're having as many babies as I am, it isn't safe to have a baby the natural way. That's why we planned a C-section.

But now, I was most definitely going into labor.


	30. Chapter 30

Dimitri sped to the hospital. I don't think I've ever been in so much pain before, including the times I almost died.

When we arrived, I was rushed away to the operating room for an emergency C-section. As the medicine kicked in I stopped being able to feel my body. I couldn't move anything. The only thing I could move was my eyes and I had no interest in tearing my gaze from Dimitri.

A whole team of doctors surrounded me. There were four hospital bassinets lining the wall. It was hard to believe that in a few minutes, my babies would be in them.

I don't know how much time passed before they started the procedure. It felt like decades had passed, but I knew it wasn't that long. Finally, I heard the most glorious sound. A child screaming. One of the nurses held her up for me to see before she cleaned her up. She was beautiful. A couple of minutes later, another baby was screaming. And then another and then another. I was finally able to tear my eyes away from Dimitri and now I couldn't look away from our babies.

It hit me. They were ours. They were proof that the impossible was possible. Lying before me, three of them fast asleep, one of them whimpering softly were mine and Dimitri's babies.

I looked back at Dimitri and saw pride and love in his eyes. This wasn't like when we had adopted Mila and Lera. I definitely considered them my daughters, but these were really my daughters. I made them.

I suddenly felt really tired. I don't know if they gave me medicine to make me tired or if I was just naturally exhausted from my dream with Adrian and going into labor. Either way, I succumbed to the peaceful blackness sleep offered.

When I woke up, Dimitri was asleep in a chair next to my hospital bed. It was nice to wake up to that and know it wasn't because I almost lost my life.

I watched him sleep for a few minutes, before I couldn't resist myself. I reached over and touched his silky brown hair, stroking down the side of his face. I will never get used to the burst of heat that flows through me whenever I touch him.

I let my hand rest on his cheek for a moment. When I went to pull away, his hand stopped me. He firmly held my hand to his cheek. I pulled his head closer to mine. His eyes flew open right before I pressed my lips to his.

"Morning," I whispered to him.

"Morning," he said grinning back at me.

"Where are the babies?" I asked him.

"In the hospital nursery," he told me. "They wanted to keep them there until you woke up. Do you want me to get them?"

"Wait a minute," I told him. I got up into a sitting position and pulled his face towards mine. I scooted over so he could join me on the bed. I pressed my lips to his.

I broke the kiss briefly. "Why am I not in any pain?" I asked him confused.

"Oksana healed you," he explained. "When you went into labor, Viktoria pretty much called all of Russia. Usually it take several weeks to fully heal from a C-section, but Oksana wanted to give us a little congratulatory gift. So you're healed."

"Then why am I still here?" I asked confused.

"Hospital protocol. Some weird policy about how you're not allowed to check unconscious patients out," he joked. "I don't know. It's something like that."

"You're just quite the comedian aren't you?" I asked him sarcastically. Then something dawned on me. "If Oksana healed me does that mean I don't have to wait the usual time to engage in certain… um… strenuous activities?" I asked hopefully.

Dimitri chuckled. "Nope. You're good to go," he told me as he winked.

I grinned at him. I leaned into him and pressed my lips to his.

"You just had a baby and you're already making out with my brother? Show some control," Viktoria teased as she walked into my hospital room. Karolina and Sonya were right behind her. Sonya and Karolina were holding Mila and Lera. Both of them were crying.

When they entered the room, they brought Mila and Lera over to our bed. We settled one of them on each of our laps. I was holding Mila and she immediately stopped crying and snuggled into the crook of my arms. She couldn't crawl yet, but she was able to sit up and move around in my arms easier than she could before. Lera is a little more advanced. She can't crawl exactly, but she can roll. Which is what she chose to do now. She rolled over Dimitri's arm so she was closer to me.

I giggled and pulled her up so she was resting by her sister. I kissed both of their foreheads. "Did you guys miss mommy?" I asked with a smile. They looked so calm and peaceful in my arms. I turned to Dimitri. "I want to see my babies," I told him seriously.

I needed them to be here. I needed my family, my whole family. Dimitri nodded. He didn't even need to leave the bed. He pressed a button to summon the nurse.

She came into my room. "Everything alright dear?" She asked me.

"I want to see my daughters," I told her.

She nodded. "I'll bring them in right away ma'am," she promised me. She left the room and returned less than ten minutes later, wheeling a bassinet. There were three nurses behind her.

I carefully laid Mila and Lera down on the bed so they were facing me, but they were no longer in my lap. Dimitri knew what I needed before I even asked for it. He picked up the first baby. She was clad in a baby blue blanket with a matching hat. "Dana," Dimitri told me quietly. We had decided on names beforehand, he was just letting me know who was who.

I held her carefully in my arms. "Hello Dana," I said softly. I looked towards Mila and Lera. "Those are your big sisters. Mila and Lera."

I kissed her forehead. She fit perfectly into my arms. She was made to fit there. I reluctantly handed her back to Dimitri.

He put her back in her bassinet before he handed me the next baby. She was clad in a pale green blanket and hat. "Angelika," he told me.

"Lika," I cooed. I introduced her to Mila and Lera also.

Next came the baby in the pink blanket and hat. "Sophia," he told me.

I held her close to me. She was identical to the other two. I was grateful they were all clad in different colors.

Finally, it was time for the last baby. He picked her up and handed her to me. He didn't tell me her name. He didn't need to. I knew who she was. "Lissa," I said softly.


	31. Chapter 31

The first three months that my babies were home were absolutely hectic. I was so busy with my quadruplets. In between feeding them and changing them and reading to them, I taught Mila and Lera to walk.

Dimitri did everything he could to help, but six babies is a lot to take care of. I was determined to give Mila and Lera as much attention as possible. Sydney didn't even try to get us to help her look through files now. She'll just come in and sit in our living room for hours doing research. A couple of times, she visited the babies. She has even admitted that they are, and I quote, 'cute for evil babies of the night.' She ignored me when I told her we were on a human schedule.

I was in the nursery, reading to my babies, all six of them. Mila and Lera were sitting on pillows while Dana, Lissa, Sophia, and Lika were lying down on a thick blanket. I read to them every day before they go to sleep.

I finished read and I started to put my babies in their crib. I looked at Mila and Lera. "Do you want to walk with mommy?" I asked them. "You can say goodnight to your sisters."

They slowly stood up. They hobbled behind me as I went to the room next door. I was only carrying Lika. I could have carried two babies at once, but Mila and Lera like it better when we do one baby at a time. When we were by Lika's crib, I squatted down so I was holding Lika right in front of them. They each kissed her forehead like I had taught them to. They said something to her in their baby language. I kissed her forehead and put her in her crib. We went back to the other room and got Dana. We repeated the process with Dana, Lissa, and Sophia.

By the time we were done, Mila and Lera were ready to get ready for bed. Dana, Lissa, Lika, and Sophia do story time in their pajamas. I always change Mila and Lera after story time so I can spend some time with them. I don't get to spend a lot of alone time with them during the day, so I try to spend as much time with them before bedtime as possible.

I slowly helped them into their pajamas, talking to them the whole time. Once they were both in their pajamas, I kissed their foreheads and put them in their cribs.

I shut off the light in their nursery and walked out. Needless to say, I was exhausted. I went to the kitchen where Dimitri was finishing up dinner. We were having a late dinner today. I walked down the hallway and gently knocked on Viktoria's door. I opened the door. She wasn't in there. I went down one more door to the nursery for her babies.

"Vika, dinner," I told her.

"I'll be down in a minute," she said sleepily.

I chuckled to myself. "How are my handsome nephews?" I asked her.

"Johnny and Kolya cry so much," she complained. "They're so loud."

"They get that from their mother," I joked.

"Watch it," Viktoria warned. "And lower your voice. If you wake them up, you're going to have to put them back to sleep."

"Not like that would be a problem," I said smugly.

She groaned. "I don't know how you do it," she said with a sigh. "I have to rock them or sing to them for almost an hour to get them to quiet down. But you? They're in your arms for five minutes and they fall asleep."

I shrugged. "It'll get easier Vik," I told her.

"When?" She asked desperately. "They're six months old Rose. Why did you get the quiet babies?"

"I definitely got lucky," I agreed. I thanked the god I wasn't sure I believed in everyday that they inherited Dimitri's calmness. "They're asleep now Vik. Why don't you go to the kitchen and relax for a few minutes before dinner?"

She sighed and agreed. We made our way towards the kitchen. Viktoria was holding the baby monitor in her hand. I don't know why she bothered with the monitor. You could hear her babies through the whole house when they were crying.

The moment Viktoria sat down, I could hear one of her sons start to cry. She looked like she was going to have a mental breakdown. "You stay here," I told her. "I'll go get him."

I truly felt bad for Viktoria. I knew she loved her sons to pieces, but when she had them, she was definitely not ready to be a mother. Unlike Dimitri and I who chose to get pregnant, Viktoria didn't plan for this. I think that may be why she has such a difficult with them. A normal seventeen year old should be allowed to go out and have fun, relieve all their stress. Since she constantly has to worry about her sons, she doesn't really have that opportunity.

I would have to talk to Dimitri about babysitting one night so she can go out and act like a teenager. I made my way to her nursery. Johnny was lying in his crib, screaming at the top of his lungs. I picked him up and cradled him in my arms. "It's okay Johnny. Aunt Rose is here," I told him soothingly. His cries mellowed down to whimpers, but he still looked very unhappy. I checked his diaper. It was clean. "Are you hungry?" I asked him in my baby voice. I carried him to the kitchen and started to feed him some of the nasty baby food Viktoria insists on feeding them.

Once he had finished, I talked to him quietly until he fell asleep. I gently put him back in his crib.

I went back to the kitchen, hoping I would finally get to eat. However, the moment I sat down, the doorbell rang. I looked at Dimitri curiously. Hu shrugged.

I got up to open the door and when I did, my jaw dropped. I was not expecting that.


	32. Chapter 32

"Mom? Dad?" I cried, throwing my arms around my parents. I couldn't believe that they are here, standing on my front porch. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to visit our daughter. Is that illegal now?" My mom asked me. "Maybe we just missed you and wanted to see you."

"I missed you too mom," I told her, pulling her in for a hug. "How's my little brother or sister?" I asked her, patting her pregnant belly.

"Why do you think I'm pregnant? I could just be fat," she said testily.

I chuckled, recognizing her pregnancy hormones taking over. "Adrian told me you were pregnant," I explained to her. I stepped aside so they could walk in.

"Oh," she said as her bad mood vanished.

"So am I getting a little sister or a little brother?" I asked her.

"A little brother," she said with a smile on her face.

I grinned at her. Then suddenly I frowned. "Do you want to meet your granddaughters?" I asked her.

"I've already met Mila and Lera," she pointed out. "But I hadn't heard. You had a girl?"

I looked at her surprised. Then I looked at Abe suspiciously. "Didn't you get my letters?" I asked.

He looked legitimately confused. "What letters?" He asked me.

"I'll take that as a no. Come on, you can see Mila and Lera first. Then I'll explain," I told them. I led them to the nursery where Mila and Lera were fast asleep.

"I can't believe how big they've gotten," my mom told me. "Maybe we should do this in the morning. My grandma complex might kick in and I don't want to wake them."

I nodded in agreement. "Of course. We have a spare bedroom for you and Abe to stay in," I told her.

"Thanks," they said at the same time.

"Are you hungry?" I asked. "Dimitri finished cooking only a little while ago. And he always cooks enough to feed an army."

They nodded eagerly. We went to the kitchen and I finally got to eat. Dimitri seemed surprised to see my parents, but was happy they were here.

Once we had finished eating, I showed my parents to our extra spare bedroom. I went back to the kitchen to try to help Dimitri with the dishes, but he was already finished. I stepped up to him. "So the kids are asleep. My parents and Viktoria are in their bedroom. It seems we have all this free time on our hands," I told him with a seductive grin.

He groaned. "We can't. Not with your parents in the house," he told me.

"Comrade, my parents are all the way on the other side of the house. Plus it's not like they don't know we have sex. We wouldn't have our babies if we weren't having sex," I pointed out to him.

He sighed. "You're really not uncomfortable with having sex in the same house as your parents?" He asked me confused.

"Nope," I told him. I stepped closer to him so my body was pressed against his. His resistance crumbled as he pressed his lips to mine.

We quickly made our way to our bedroom.

I woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon. It didn't surprise me that my bed was empty. I figured Dimitri was cooking. I quickly hopped out of bed and made my way to Mila and Lera's room. They were sitting in their cribs. I quickly helped them out of their cribs and dressed them. "Ready for breakfast?" I asked them with a grin.

They followed me to the kitchen. I helped them into their high chair. Dimitri gave them both little bowls of dry cereal. We left them on their own to eat. The cereal pieces were too small for them to choke on and pretty much disintegrated in their mouths anyway. I went to the other nursery and picked up Lika. The other babies were still asleep and I didn't want to wake them up until I had to.

When I got back to the kitchen, I was surprised to see my mom and dad sitting at the table. I must have just missed them when I got into the nursery.

My mom's eyes widened when she looked at Lika. "Mom, this is Angelika. Lika, this is your grandma," I told them. I saw the question in my mom's eyes. "You can hold her if you're willing to feed her," I warned her.

She nodded eagerly. I handed Lika to my mom and got her bottle. Once I was sure Lika was comfortable, I went back to the nursery. Dana woke up when I walked in so I picked her up and went back to the kitchen. Abe insisted on holding her. He fed her. When I went back to the nursery, I ran into Viktoria on her way down the hallway with Johnny and Kolya. "My parents are in the kitchen," I told her. She had gone to sleep before they came yesterday.

Her eyes widened and she nodded. "Is there enough room?" She asked uncertainly.

I giggled. "Half our kitchen is full of baby seats. I don't think we'll have a problem fitting everyone in the kitchen," I pointed out. She nodded.

I went into the nursery. I picked up Lissa and Sophia. "Come on, time to meet grandma," I told them happily.

I headed to the kitchen and settled them into their little baby seats. My mom's eyes widened. "Rosemarie. You had four babies?" She asked shocked. I carefully fed them each a bottle.

I grinned at her and nodded. "Congrats grandma," I told her. I picked up both of them and waited a while before I burped them.

"You have six kids? How do you do it?" She asked shocked.

"I ask myself the same thing every day," Dimitri told her. "She's like supermom."

"She's even good with her nephews," Viktoria told them.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not that big of a deal," I told them. I took Lika from my mom and rocked her for a moment until she burped. I put her in her baby seat and picked up Lissa. "Mom, this is Lissa."

My mom looked up at me, tears filling up her eyes. "I'm sure Lissa would appreciate that… when she's back to normal," she told me.

I nodded. "I hope so," I whispered to her.


	33. Chapter 33

My parents stayed with us for a couple of weeks. They left after Mila and Lera's first birthday. My quadruplets are six months old today and wow how time flies. I can't believe how fast they grow. I was dressing them in cute little dresses. Dimitri and I were hosting dinner for all of the Belikovs and we decided we were going to dress up our little girls for them. Once I was done, I put them in their baby seats. There were little things that dangled off their seats that fascinate them.

They could play with them for hours. Trust me, I've watched them. I don't know how I got lucky with my little girls. They are all sort of identical. They all have Dimitri's hair color. Dana, Sophia, and Lika have Dimitri's chocolate eye color, but Lissa has my eye color. That's the only noticeable difference between them. I've noticed the little differences that help me distinguish them. Dana's eyes widen and she smiles whenever she sees the little cowboy mobile Dimitri bought for Mila and Lera. It worried me to no end, but finally I gave in. If she wants to be obsessed with cowboys, then so be it. I moved the mobile so it was above her crib. Sophia loves the stories I read about animals, particularly horses. Like is just always happy. She will smile and giggle when she sees someone, anyone. I love my little girls.

I walked into the nursery to hear Mila and Lera talking back and forth in their baby talk. They throw in some real words here and there. I smiled, remembering the first time I heard them say a real word. It was the first time they called me mama. It was about a month ago.

Mila walked up to me. The whole time she was walking, she was making a face like she was concentrating really hard. I didn't know what she was concentrating on, but it wasn't her walking. She fell twice. I knew better than to held her. If I helped her, she would pretend she was hurt and start crying. She's a smart baby.

"What's wrong baby?" I asked her, not expecting an answer. I figured maybe she would say some stuff in baby talk, but I wasn't expecting anything else.

She scrunched up her face. "Mama," she said with a giggle.

I hugged her close to me. "You said mama," I whispered to her. Somehow, that made it real. I was really her mother. I was in charge of her life. I only hoped I could live up to that responsibility.

Lera called me mama later that night when I put her to sleep. I had just tucked her into her crib when she looked right at me and said, "Mama."

I will never forget that day. I think Dimitri felt a little jealous that they mastered saying mama so quickly. It took them a couple of days to get used to saying dada. They call us mama and dada all the time now. They've added a few other words to their vocabulary. Mila can say donut. Even if she pronounced it like its two words, she still can say it. They both know how to say please, but they can't get the 'l' sound, so it comes out sounding like 'peas'.

It's been quite the adventure, trying to teach them how to talk. They love to talk, just not English. We got them to the point where they'll talk in a mixture of baby words and English, but we can tell they don't know what the words mean. They are just a filler to them.

I had just finished putting Mila into her dress and was about to help Lera when Sydney burst into the room. "I found something," she told me breathlessly. It took me a moment to realize what she meant.

"You found something?" I asked uncertainly. Those were words I had thought I would never hear.

She nodded her head eagerly. I put Mila and Lera in the playpen near where the babies were sitting. "Dimitri!" I called. He came running.

"What's wrong? What happened?" He asked anxiously.

Once he was at my side, I turned to Sydney. "What did you find out?" I asked her eagerly.

He looked back and forth between us confused. Then the light bulb went off. "You found something that might help Lissa?" He asked hopefully.

Sydney nodded. "There was a moroi that committed suicide three years ago, here in Russia," Sydney said. "I can't believe I didn't think to look here before. This was huge with the alchemists."

"Then why didn't you think to look there before?" I asked her impatiently.

"It wasn't filed where it should have been. We have a file specifically for moroi that committed suicide, particularly the ones that happened in a place where there could be humans. But this wasn't in that file," she told us. "We just assumed he was a troublemaker, so we put it in our misdemeanor file."

"Okay. So he committed suicide. What does that have to do with Lissa?" I asked her.

"You said that Lissa hasn't been acting like herself right? She's been getting drunk a lot and acting out?" Sydney asked.

"Right," I agreed. I had no idea where she was going with this.

"He started behaving like you said your queen is, except his was much more public. He made a menace in the human world. He would bare his fangs to humans when he got angry. He would drink from them in public. He never did enough to turn strigoi, but if you start sucking blood out of someone's neck, it attracts attention. It was a mess," she told us.

"What happened?" I asked anxiously.

"He jumped out of the eighth floor of a hotel building. Right in front of his fiancé too. It took several alchemists to clean up that mess. There were so many human witnesses," Sydney explained. "We had to question his fiancé and she just kept saying this wasn't him. That something was controlling him. That's what reminded me of what you keep saying. This isn't like your queen. Someone's controlling her."

"Who was his fiancé?" I asked hopefully.

"We didn't get a name," Sydney admitted in a small voice. I felt my heart drop. Of course this was going to lead to a dead end. "But we have a picture. I doubt it will help." I shared her doubts. What's the likelihood I'll recognize the woman. Maybe Dimitri would recognize her, because he actually lived in Russia growing up. He would be more likely to recognize the moroi

She held up a picture of a man and a woman. I gasped when I looked at that picture. I knew that girl.


	34. Chapter 34

I barely slept that night. It had taken Dimitri almost thirty minutes to convince me that we needed to wait until morning to go find the girl.

I had jumped to my feet and was pulling on my jacket. Dimitri stopped me when my arm was halfway into my sleeve

"It's too late to go now. She's probably busy. And my family is currently on their way over," Dimitri told me.

"Dimitri this is our lead!" I told him. "We could figure out what's going on with Lissa!"

"I know Rose, but she'll be more likely to cooperate if we don't interrupt her when she's trying to sleep," he told me. "This isn't likely to be something she'll want to relive. Plus, we don't know where she lives. We're going to have to go to town when shops are open so we can ask for her, find out where we can find her."

"I hate when you use logic against me," I grumbled.

Dimitri came closer to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Roza, I know you're anxious to go talk to her, but we have to wait. It will be better for Lissa if we wait," he told me, kissing my forehead.

I looked up at him. "I know you're right. I just hate feeling so helpless. We finally found someone who might know what's going on with Lissa. It's the first time in over a year that I've felt like I could get my best friend back. The first time in over a year we've done something other than play hide and seek. I don't want to lose that," I yelled. "All you fucking want to do is sit around while something is controlling Lissa. We finally found something and you don't even want to look into it!"

I knew I was overreacting, but I wanted my best friend back. I didn't want the Lissa that wants to experiment on babies and break up with Christian. I want my best friend who I can talk to about anything. I was surprised by my outburst, but Dimitri took it calmly. He didn't get upset or insulted.

"You won't lose this," he promised me. "We'll go first thing in the morning. We'll drop off our girls at my family's house and we'll go. We'll spend all day finding her if we have to."

I wrapped my arms around him, standing on my tip toes so I perfectly fit into the contours of his body. My bad mood immediately evaporated as I breathed in his after shave. "Thank you," I breathed.

"I know you're under a lot of stress. I want to do as much to help you as I can," he told me.

"I don't know what I did to deserve your understanding. I don't know what I did to deserve you," I told him. And I didn't understand. Somehow this amazing man before me was mine.

"I love you," he told me.

"I love you too," I promised. Our lips met halfway.

"Seriously? We have family coming and you're choosing to start making out now?" Viktoria asked from the doorway. She was holding Kolya who looked absolutely adorable in his little baby suit.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Hey Vika? Tomorrow we're leaving our daughters at your mom's house. You're going to have the house to yourself with the boys," I told her.

She looked at us confused. "What are you doing tomorrow? I thought you swore off fun when you had the babies," she told us jokingly.

I bit my lip. "We found something that might help us with Lissa," I told her.

Her eyes widened. "I'm coming with you," she said instantly. "I can leave Kolya and Johnny with mom. I'm sure together, they can handle eight babies. Plus your kids are so quiet it will be like they only have two babies to look after."

I glanced at Dimitri uncertainly. He was studying Viktoria. "Okay," he agreed. "You can come with us."

I was surprised, but I wasn't about to argue. "So what's the plan?" Viktoria asked.

Before we could answer, the doorbell rang. "We'll talk about it later," Dimitri told her. He went to answer the doors and let the Belikovs in.

Olena of course spent almost an hour talking to all of the babies in her baby talk voice. I had no idea what she was saying because she was speaking Russian. When we finally had all the babies settled into their seats, Dimitri served everyone dinner.

He had made some kind of fish for everyone. He refused to tell me what kind of fish it was, because if he told me, and I quote, I 'wouldn't want to even be in the same room as it.' Needless to say, that wasn't very reassuring. However, I ate it and it was delicious.

As Dimitri pulled out the ice cream, I put all of the dishes by the sink. "Hey mom?" Dimitri asked.

Olena looked up at him. "Yes?" she asked curiously.

"Do you think we could leave our daughters at the house with you tomorrow? Rose and I have something we need to do," he told her.

"That would be Rose, Viktoria, and Dimitri have something to do tomorrow," Viktoria corrected. "I was hoping you would be able to watch Johnny and Kolya too."

Olena looked surprised. "I would love to have some time with my grandchildren," she told us sincerely. "Is everything alright?"

"We just have to do something," I told her. She knew what was going on with Lissa and that we were looking for ways to help her, but Sonya and Karolina were thankfully oblivious.

Her eyes widened with understanding. "We could take the babies tonight if you want," Olena offered. "We have several cribs in our house. I'm sure you probably could use a night to yourself."

I heard her secret message. She wanted us to come up with a plan. Figure out what we were going to do. "That's alright. I would rather just drop them off in the morning," I told her. "I'm trying to keep their bedtime routine." I didn't finish my thought, but I think Olena understood. If we found out what we needed to tomorrow, they may not be in Russian much longer.

I wanted to savor our memories. The rest of our night passed in a blur. Finally, the Belikovs said goodbye and we were alone. Dimitri and I put our babies to sleep together that night. We went back to our bedroom.

Dimitri fell asleep before me and I spent a while tossing back and forth in bed. After a couple of minutes, I gave up on sleep. Being careful not to wake Dimitri, I slipped out of bed. I didn't want to wake up Dimitri so I went to the next best place. I went to Mila and Lera.


	35. Chapter 35

I know some people may say it's bad parenting to wake your child up in the middle of the night and their probably right. I did my best not to wake them up, but it was unavoidable. I took a seat on the floor. I knew they were going to fall back asleep while I was talking to them, so I settled them into my arms and covered them with a blanket. They snuggled into my sides, looking comfortable and happy.

"Hi girls," I whispered to them. "I'm sorry I woke you up. But I didn't want to wake up daddy. How bad does that sound?" A small chuckle escaped me. "But I know you girls will fall back asleep. Daddy will think that he has to stay up and listen to me."

Mila and Lera were already drifting off to sleep. "I love you both very dearly. I never thought I would love anyone more than your daddy, but now I know I was wrong. I love you two and your sisters so much. I didn't know it was possible to love this many people."

I kissed both of their foreheads. They had fallen asleep, which I had planned. I felt so complete, holding them in my arms. "We found something. We found something that could help your Aunt Lissa," I whispered to them. "When you grow up, I hope you'll be able to know her. Aunt Lissa was… is my best friend. Something weird happened to her. She's being controlled by something. Daddy and I have been working on helping her. I miss my best friend."

I couldn't help the tears that leaked from my eyes. "She used to be great. She was the kind of person I could spend all night talking to. I trusted her with everything," I told them. Then I hesitated, realizing that wasn't true. "Actually, I didn't trust her with everything. I didn't tell her about mine and Daddy's relationship. As you know, Daddy was my mentor. I fell in love with him. I never told Lissa. I should have. She was my best friend. But I didn't tell her."

"Is that why this is happening?" I asked quietly. I looked up towards the ceiling. I didn't know who I was talking to anymore. "Is this happening because I was a bad friend? When she trusted me with everything, I hid everything important to me. Was I selfish? Is this happening to her because I didn't trust her?"

I looked down at my sleeping girls. "I want to help her so badly. I just want my best friend back," I told them. "Me and your Aunt Lissa. We have been best friends since we were five. Our teacher was really mean and tried to make us write our full names. I called her a word that I shouldn't have and threw a book at her. Oh boy, I hope you guys have more control over your anger than I do. I can't regret what I did. After that Aunt Lissa and I were inseparable."

"I would beat up anyone that made fun of her and she gave me someone I could talk to. She was the first person that I talked to like a friend. I didn't need to be snarky and sarcastic with her, I could just be me," I told them. "When we were fourteen, we were in a really bad car accident. Aunt Lissa saved me. After that, we had a bond. I could see into her head, see her thoughts. It was unpleasant sometimes, but it helped me help her. I could always find out what was bothering her."

I smiled at Mila and Lera. "A little less than a year later, we ran away from the Academy. I know it wasn't the right decision now, but if I had to go back in time, I would do it again," I told them honestly. "If we hadn't run away I would never have gotten the opportunity to know daddy like I did. He found us two years after we ran away, brought us back to the Academy."

"Those two years we were gone were amazing. Lissa wasn't the last Dragomir in the human world. She was just Lissa. We were allowed to be who we wanted to be. We got to have fun. There was one Halloween where we dressed up like fairies. It was nice to be free for once," I told them with a smile. "But it had to end. I thought daddy was a jerk at first. I didn't realize how much he was actually helping me. Obviously that changed."

I giggled a little as I remembered our early days at St. Vladimir's. "When we got back to St. Vladimir's, I still expected Lissa to tell me everything that was bothering her and I still tried to help her, but I never gave her the opportunity to do the same," I said sadly. "The one time she helped me, it was out of my control. She was using compulsion. Other than that, I didn't let her help me. I was her guardian. I was supposed to help her, not the other way around. Maybe that's where our friendship went wrong. I made our friendship very one sided and she let me."

"I wish I could tell daddy this, but I know what he would say. He would tell me it's not my fault. He would tell me what's happening to Lissa is out of my control," I told them with a sigh. "And the sad thing is I think he would really believe that. He wouldn't lie to me. If he can see it like that, why can't I?"

"Because you are too close to Lissa to see it. You want to feel responsible because then you have someone to blame. Even if its yourself, its someone," a voice said from the doorway.

I chuckled to myself. "I should have known you would be standing there," I said amused, looking up into Dimitri's chocolate brown eyes.


	36. Chapter 36

"Were you even asleep when I left?" I asked him curiously.

He shook his head. "I'm just as anxious as you are about all of this," he told me. "I just don't toss and turn like you do."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you think she'll help us?" I asked him uncertainly.

"I'm sure she will," he told me certainly. "She has first-handedly experienced this happening to someone she loved. She won't want the same thing to happen to you."

"I hope not," I whispered to him. He helped me put Mila and Lera back in their cribs without waking them up.

When we returned to our bedroom, I turned to him. "Were you there for my whole conversation?" I asked him.

"I don't know if you would call it a conversation. You were the only one talking, but yes. I was there for the whole thing," he told me. I groaned. "Hey, it's okay. It's not like I didn't already know you were feeling that way. And you already told me the stuff about you and Lissa."

"How did you know how I was feeling?" I asked him surprised. I thought I had been doing a good job hiding it.

"I could see how guilty you look whenever we talk about her," he told me. "You also put more effort into searching those files than anyone else. Sure, you complained, but you did your job and thoroughly."

I sighed and leaned into his chest, basking in the warmth and comfort that he brought me. "It wasn't enough. In the end, I put you and my kids before helping Lissa," I told him sadly.

"Rose, it is okay to put your family first. You have six innocent babies depending on you. They need you more than anyone else in the world," he told me.

I shook my head. "They need you just as much," I told him.

He shook his head. "They don't," he corrected me. "You don't see yourself very clearly. I wouldn't be able to do half the things you do with them. Mila and Lera worship you. The first words out of their mouths weren't dada. It was mama."

"That doesn't mean anything," I argued.

"It means more than you can imagine," he told me. "I can't get them to calm down like you can. I can't get them to behave like you can. I know they love me and they'll listen to me, but it takes a little more effort on my part. You're a natural when it comes to those kids. I would be concerned if you didn't put them above Lissa. It's your maternal instincts. Your children will always come first."

I knew he was right. "So much for they come first, huh?" I asked with a sigh.

He shook his head. "They can mean so many things. It's a very open ended statement. Doesn't really say who they is," he pointed out.

"Is Mr. Badass Guardian suggesting that they can mean my children," I teased him.

"Absolutely," he said. "My children will always come first for me. As will my lovely wife."

I grinned up at him. "My handsome husband and my daughters will come first for me too," I agreed.

He tilted my head slightly and pressed his lips to mine. "What does this mean?" I asked him when we broke the kiss.

"What do you mean?" He asked confused.

"It's common knowledge that you have to put a moroi before your own life. I can do that, but I can't put her before my family. Does that mean I can't guard her as well as I should?" I asked him nervously. I wasn't sure I really wanted to hear the answer.

"Rosemarie Belikov," Dimitri said in a warning voice. "You just can't mix your work and your personal life. When you are on duty, I am sure you won't have a problem putting Lissa first. There is no reason you can't. You've trained so hard for this. I know you can do your duty well and still raise our daughters to be well rounded young ladies."

"You really think so?" I asked.

He nodded. "I do," he told me sincerely. I leaned up and pressed my lips to his.

We spent the rest of the night in each other's arms. We were too anxious to sleep and I think both of us were relieved as the sun started to rise. Dimitri went to the kitchen to start making breakfast. He made huge chocolate chip pancakes. He cooked bacon and sausage. I knew he was hoping a breakfast with my favorite foods would help alleviate my nerves.

It didn't work, but breakfast sure was delicious. Viktoria came into the kitchen as we finished eating. As she ate, we prepared the babies for their stay at the Belikovs and put all of the babies into their car seats.

About thirty minutes later, our car was loaded up and we were on our way to the Belikovs. My nerves picked up with every second that passed. Olena was ecstatic when we dropped off the babies. I felt bad sometimes. We brought our babies to see her as often as possible and she came over to our house a lot, but she wasn't used to not having everyone living in her house.

Before I knew what was happening, Dimitri, Viktoria, and I were scouring every inch of town trying to find out if anyone knew the girl we were looking for. Several hours passed before we found someone that could help us. We had stopped for lunch in a little café. We figured we might as well ask our waitress if she knew her.

God was obviously smiling down upon us in that moment. Not only did our waitress know her, she knew where she lived.

Once we had finished eating, we went to the address. We were standing outside her front door. Now that the moment was here, I couldn't bring myself to knock on her door.

I squeezed Dimitri's hand and summoned up all my courage. I knocked on the door.

I waited several minutes before the door opened, revealing a familiar face.

"Amy?" I asked quietly.


	37. Chapter 37

She looked confused, but happy to see us. She stepped aside to let us in. "Rose, right?" She asked.

I nodded. I couldn't make myself say anything. I was too nervous. She led us to a kitchen where she was feeding her son. I think his name was Benjamin, but I wasn't really sure. We all took seats at the table.

"Are you hungry?" She asked us politely. "I just ate, but I have bread and lunchmeats if you're hungry."

"No thank you," Dimitri said. "We ate just before we came here."

She nodded. "So what brings you here?" She asked us, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"Um… We came across your name in one of the Alchemist records," I told her quietly. It was exactly a lie. I just thought it would sound too weird to say they had photos of her on file. "I was hoping you could help me with something."

"After what you did for me and Venya? Anything," she told me seriously. She might regret that.

"I need to know what happened with your fiancé," I told her.

Her eyes widened. "Anything but that, please. You don't understand," she said sadly.

I looked at her. "I don't understand?" I asked incredulously. "My best friend is demonstrating similar side-effects to what your fiancé had and I don't understand?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," she said softly. "Are you… are you sure it's the same thing?"

"Lissa hasn't been herself for a while. She's been coming up with ideas that my best friend would never think of," I told her sincerely. "It's like something's controlling her."

"This can't be happening. She can't be doing it again," Amy muttered to herself.

"She?" I asked confused.

"I told Benjamin she was up to no good. But why would she be going after your friend I don't understand. She wanted Benjamin because he was special. I warned him. I got a bad feeling around her. But he insisted. She just wanted to be his friend. He could see it in her aura," she said to herself, her eyes had a distant look to them.

I froze at her mention on auras. I looked at Dimitri and knew he was thinking the same thing. "Amy?" I asked uncertainly. She looked up at me confused. "Was Benjamin a spirit user?"

Her eyes widened with shock. "How did you know that?" She asked me.

"You said he could see auras. The only people I know that can see auras are spirit users," I explained.

"You know spirit users?" She asked me surprised.

I nodded. "I used to be bonded to one," I told her.

Her eyes filled with tears. "Used to be? As in aren't anymore?" She asked. I nodded in confirmation. "So you know what it's like to lose your bondmate."

I looked at her surprised. "Not exactly. Were you bonded to Benjamin?" I asked her.

She nodded. "What do you mean by not exactly?" She asked curiously.

"I was bonded to Lissa for almost three years," I told her. "Then when Tasha Ozera tried to kill the queen, I got in her way. She staked me through my stomach. I technically died, but recovered on my own. It broke the bond."

She stared at me shocked. "I… I didn't know that was possible," she whispered.

"I didn't either until it happened," I told her. "Now can you please explain what's going on with Lissa."

"Three and a half years ago, Benjamin and I ran into this girl at the store. She immediately started talking to us. She was someone both of us thought we could be friends with," she told us. "We didn't see her again for a couple of months, but when we did, she started messing with him. I could see it when I was in his head. She would almost use reverse compulsion. Tell him not to do something in a way that encouraged him to do it. That's how she got him to jump out of the window of that hotel. She kept pushing me out of his head so I couldn't help him, couldn't find out where he was. When I realized what was going on, I could hear her thoughts in his head. I was in our apartment and I ran to the hotel when I got a glimpse of what was going on. I tried to stop him, but I was too late."

"She tried to heal him. That's when I realized she wasn't the air-user she claimed to be. She was a spirit user," she whispered. "I stopped her before she could heal him. I knew what her goal was. She wanted to bond to him. I hated myself for stopping her, but I knew he would rather be dead than be controlled."

She looked up at me. Her eyes were begging me to understand, to accept her decision. "Now that I know it's possible to break the bond, maybe I made the wrong decision. Maybe I could have saved him," she said sadly.

"I understand why you did what you did," I whispered to her. "I would do the same thing for Lissa. But you can't blame yourself. He would have had to die to break the bond. Who knows if he would have had the strength to come back. But I don't understand something. How did this girl know that healing him would bond her to him. Did she lose her bondmate? Maybe that made her go crazy."

Amy shook her head. "She was already bonded. That's one of the reasons I couldn't get there in time. Her bodyguard is her bondmate. He stopped me from entering the hotel. He let go of me once Benjamin jumped. That's how I was able to stop her."

I was so upset by her story, I didn't think to ask the vital question. Luckily, Dimitri remembered.

"Who is she?" He asked her. "Please, it's very important."

"Avery," Amy whispered. "Avery Lazar."


	38. Chapter 38

"No, no, no!" I said over and over again. It wasn't possible. Not Avery. I had never met her, but I knew how much Adrian cared for her. I hated to admit it, but it made sense. Adrian told me Avery showed up a few days before elections. Dimitri and I were too busy with our honeymoon and the babies to notice who she was. And it was right around elections that she started acting strangely.

"Something doesn't make sense," I said after I had time to process all of the information.

"What would that be?" Amy asked.

"Avery is currently dating Adrian. Adrian's a spirit user. Why would she go after Lissa and not Adrian?" I asked confused.

Amy shrugged. "Maybe she really had feelings for Adrian. Maybe she perceived Lissa as the greater threat. Who knows?" Amy asked sadly.

I took a deep breath and put my head in my hands. How could it be Avery? Avery helped Lissa when she tried to commit suicide. But what if she wasn't trying to help her. Adrian said she was disappointed in Lissa, but what if she was disappointed Adrian interrupted them before Lissa had a chance to die. I couldn't believe that of Avery. Then again, every bad thing that Lissa has done, has happened while Avery was with her. She was with her when Lissa broke up with Christian. She was with her every time she got drunk. I had to accept it. Avery was the cause of Lissa's abnormal behavior.

I stood up. "We have to get back to court. Lissa has already tried to commit suicide three times. Who knows what Avery might try to make her do next," I said panicked. "Dimitri I need your phone. Thanks for your help Amy."

He obediently handed it to me and followed me outside. I dialed a familiar number. He answered on the second ring. "Old man," I greeted. "I need you to get me three plane tickets to Pennsylvania."

For when? He asked me from the other line.

"Five minutes ago," I told him hysterically. I ended the call and got in the car. Dimitri started speeding off to the airport. He knew we didn't have time to pack anything. I called the Belikovs house.

Olena answered. "Olena, I need you to watch the kids longer than I thought. I'm going to leave the front door unlocked. If you need anything from them, feel free to walk in and get it. I'm sorry that I can't explain, but we have to go," I said in a rush. I didn't give her time to answer.

I hung up. About two minutes after I hung up, the phone started ringing. I half expected it to be Olena, demanding answers. To my relief, it was Abe. He started speaking before I could say hello.

The tickets are waiting for you in the airport. Just tell them you have three tickets for Mazur. Your flight leaves in thirty minutes, but if I know you, you already are halfway to the airport. He told me amused.

"Thanks dad," I whispered. He was right. We were only about fifteen minutes from the airport.

I don't know why you are going back to Court, but I know you wouldn't do it without good reason. Be safe.

"I will," I promised. He ended the call.

I sat back in my seat and stared at the ceiling. I had no idea how I was going to help Lissa, but I knew I had to help her before Avery succeeded in killing her off and bonding with her.

Our car ride was very silent. I don't think anyone knew what to say. We had never been in a situation where a spirit user in disguise was trying to kill another spirit user so she could bond with her. Needless to say, it wasn't a very common situation.

When we got to the airport, we got our tickets and immediately boarded the plane. I sat down in my seat and started tapping my foot on the ground.

Dimitri grabbed my hand. "Calm down Roza. We'll be there soon," he told me.

I looked at him angrily. "Twelve hours is not soon. Not by any means," I argued angrily.

"No, but you sitting here, making yourself more and more anxious isn't going to make it faster," he pointed out. "Try to calm down."

"I can't calm down!" I told him hysterically. I turned to him. "I can't calm down! This is too serious. It's-"

He cut me off when he pressed his lips to mine. I felt the world disappear and all my agitation evaporated. There was nothing in the world but me and Dimitri and our kiss.

For once, our kiss was ruined by Viktoria telling us to get a room. For once, no nosy passengers were clearing their throats uncomfortably. Our kiss was sweet and slow at moments, but then it picked up and was fast and lustful. I don't know how long we kissed for. When we broke apart, I laid my head down on Dimitri's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me. "Get some sleep Roza," he told me softly.

Somehow, in his embrace all of my worries vanished and I was able to fall asleep. I didn't sleep long, maybe an hour or so. I was comfortable with him, but that doesn't mean I was any less anxious about seeing Lissa and confronting Avery.

When I woke up, Dimitri's cheek was resting on my forehead. I didn't want to move, because I was afraid to wake him up, but I needed to shift slightly. I carefully moved so I was snuggled into the crook of his neck. I barely moved him and luckily he slept through. I knew he didn't sleep last night and we would probably need to be well rested for what was to come.

Dimitri slept through the rest of the flight. I let him. Who knows when we wound find out next moment of peace and serenity. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

I woke him up as the plane descended. We stepped off the plane hand in hand, ready to face whatever comes our way.


	39. Chapter 39

Dimitri drove the short distance to Court. We couldn't risk flying directly into Court for fear that Lissa or more importantly Avery would find out we were here. Luckily, I was able to get in touch with Mikhail to help us get into Court. Our plane arrived later than we expected, so we could only pray that he was on still on duty and they hadn't changed shifts yet.

Luck was on our side. When we pulled up to court, Mikhail was still the only one guarding the gate. He let us in with a small nod. I could tell he didn't understand why I would come back, but I sounded hysterical on the phone so he didn't question it.

I held my hand out, waiting for Dimitri to hand me his phone. Once he handed it to me, I called Adrian.

Hello? He asked from the other side. Belikov is Rose okay.

"Adrian it's me. Where is Lissa?" I asked him anxiously.

She's out with Avery, why? He asked confused.

"Shit," I said to myself. "Where are they?"

Lissa said something about the library. She has a test tomorrow, he told me. Dread filled me as I realized what he said. The library at Court had to be at least ten stories high.

"Meet me at the library as soon as possible. We have to find her. She's in danger," I told him.

You found something? He asked hopefully.

"Yes. I'm at Court. I don't have time to explain now Adrian, please hurry," I begged.

I'll be there in a minute little dhampir, he promised me. I could hear shuffling on the other end of the phone right before the line went dead.

"Lissa's with Avery. In the library," I told them. We raced towards the library. "Vika, stay out here. When Adrian comes here, tell him to start searching the library for Li-"

I cut myself off as I heard an unfamiliar voice. "Liss, you shouldn't be up there," the voice said. I heard the double meaning in her words. I looked up and my heart dropped to my stomach. Lissa was standing on a balcony outside the library. She had climbed over the railing that was there to ensure no one fell. She was too high up. Dimitri followed my gaze.

"Get Christian," I told Dimitri. I don't know why, but I just knew Christian would be able to help. If anyone could get through to Lissa, it would be Christian. Before I made a conscious decision, I was running. I have never run up stairs so quickly in my life. I knew Lissa was on the tenth floor. It's the only place they have balconies. I used to love the balcony. Lissa and I went there a few times before Dimitri and I got married. Now, I wish the library were like every other building at Court where they had windows too small to fall out of.

As I was running, it hit me. This was about more than just Lissa. She was the queen of the moroi world. She was one of two Dragomirs. If Avery succeeds, it will leave our world in a vulnerable state.

When I finally got to the tenth floor, I sprinted out towards the balcony. I managed to grab Lissa right before she jumped. I pulled her over the balcony so she was on firm ground.

"Liss, snap out of this!" I urged her.

She looked at me confused. "Rose?" She asked uncertainly as if she didn't believe her eyes. Then she blinked and anger took over. "Where have you been?"

I slapped her. "Snap out of it Liss! Avery is a spirit user. She's trying to kill you so she can become bonded with you. Please Liss, fight it. Use your spirit abilities," I begged desperately.

Her face looked torn. She was trying to fight it. I mentally breathed a sigh of relief when I heard footsteps approaching. I thought it was Dimitri. "I can't," she said.

"Yes you can Liss. Fight her compulsion. You have stronger compulsion than anyone I know," I told her. "Just fight it."

"You don't understand. I've been drinking," she admitted. "I can feel her in my head."

I growled and turned to Avery. "So this is how you've been controlling her? You kept getting her drunk so she couldn't fight back? That's sick," I told her angrily.

Avery was smiling at me. "Oh, poor Rose. Is wittle Wose upset that evil Avery is contwolling her best friend?" She asked me. "If that's the case, you're about to get very pissed at me."

She looked towards the shadows of the library. A moroi man stepped out. He was holding Dimitri. If I weren't so scared, I would have found a 6' tall moroi holding a 6'7" tall, ripped dhampir hilarious. However the circumstances were not different. The moroi was holding a knife to Dimitri's neck.

"Dimitri!" I shrieked.

"Don't move," Avery warned me.

"No sis," the moroi man told her. "I hit him from behind."

I frowned as I watched them. Then I realized what was going on. "You're bonded," I gasped. "But you're bonded to your guardian."

Avery smiled at me. It wasn't a friendly smile, it was an evil smile. "Someone did their research," she said happily. "Yes, indeed. I am bonded to both of them. You can't imagine the power I have. Perhaps you would like to meet my other bondmate?"

Another man stepped out from the shadows. He was holding Viktoria the same way Dimitri was being held.

I looked back and forth between them shocked. I knew I had to make a choice. Dimitri and Viktoria or Lissa. I looked into Dimitri's eyes. I remembered our conversation from the other day. I told Dimitri he would come before Lissa no matter what.

I wanted to choose him, but I couldn't condemn the entire moroi world. Lissa was an important part of our society. I can't have the moroi queen being controlled by Avery. I can't lose my best friend right when I may be getting her back.

But I couldn't lose Dimitri. I couldn't raise our six daughters without him. I couldn't live knowing I was responsible for his death. Looking into his eyes, I knew he didn't want me to choose him. He wanted me to choose Lissa.


	40. Chapter 40

Suddenly, I realized there was a third option. I remembered what Amy did. She made sure Avery couldn't bring Benjamin back to life. I can't live without Dimitri. I know I can't. Just thinking about it makes my heart ache. It makes me feel hollow.

But could I live with myself if I let Lissa die? I didn't know what to do. There was no right answer.

I was spared having to make a decision by an angry voice. "What the hell is going on here?" Adrian asked. His look was filled with pain and betrayal. He was looking right at Avery. Christian was standing right next to Adrian, taking in every detail of what was going on.

For the first time all night, Avery looked guilty. "Babe, what are you doing here?" She asked, trying to play oblivious.

"Better question is what are you doing?" He asked her. He looked at her bodyguard and brother. "Why are Simon and Reed holding Belikov and his sister?"

"He tried to attack me," she lied. "Reed grabbed him to protect me."

I recognized the tone of her voice. She was trying to use compulsion on Adrian. "You're lying," Adrian said. "I've been standing here the whole time. How could you do this?"

"It's easy," Avery said in an evil voice. "The only person standing in my way is Rosemarie Belikov. In the end, you're just some nobody dhampir. No one's going to miss you if you die."

I laughed. I couldn't help myself. "I may have believed you before, but I have six babies waiting for me. And I'm not some nobody dhampir," I retorted. "I'm sure even you know that." I usually didn't like to brag about my achievements, but I needed to remind her of my reputation.

She rolled her eyes. "You're a guardian. So what? That doesn't make you dangerous to me," she retorted.

I raised my eyebrow at Adrian. He looked at the ground sheepishly. "I may have forgotten to tell her exactly who you are," he admitted.

I laughed again even though I didn't find anything funny. "You are not going to touch Lissa. And you are not going to harm my husband and his sister. I won't let you," I told her.

She glanced at Reed then looked at me. "Too late," she said. Reed twisted Dimitri's neck and he fell to the ground.

I couldn't help the scream that escaped me. Don't let him be dead. Please lord don't let him be dead. I attacked Avery, causing her to fall backwards. Before I could land a good punch on her, I felt Avery enter my head. It's on bitch, she said in my head.

Then suddenly, I wasn't standing in the library anymore. I was lying on the bed in the cabin… our cabin. The place where Dimitri and I finally accepted our love for one another. I was lying in Dimitri's arms. I looked around confused. Something was wrong, but I couldn't remember what.

I stood up and looked around the cabin. It looked lived in. "What's going on?" I asked confused. Memories from the library flooded back to me. "You're dead," I whispered. I knew it must be true. There was no way I would be dreaming this if he were alive.

"I'm not dead," he told me. I could almost believe him, but something was stopping me.

"Lissa," I whispered.

"Don't worry about Lissa. Think about me," he urged me. He got to his feet and stepped closer to me.

That hit me like a bucket of cold water. I stepped away from him. "This isn't real," I whispered to him. "You're dead."

"Roza, if I were dead would I be standing before you?" He asked me.

His voice wrapped around me, but his tone was unfamiliar. It sounded like Avery when she was using compulsion.

Avery! I took another step back. "I'm not going to let her kill Lissa. I've already lost you. I can't lose my best friend too," I told him.

It took all of my control and effort to walk away from him, but as soon as I did, I was jerked back to the library.

I allowed myself a moment of pride as I realized that I just beat Avery's compulsion, something she did not look happy about.

As I looked around to get my bearings, her guardian threw Viktoria into the wall. She slumped to the ground unconscious. I could see her chest moving up and down as she breathed. She was still alive. I lunged at Simon. He was trained to be a guardian, so he was clearly the biggest threat.

"Liss?" I called. I heard a soft whimper. Without taking my eyes off Simon, I looked around to find Lissa. She was taking small steps back as Reed was stepping closer to her. "Liss, I fought the mental battle today. Now it's time for you to fight the physical one."

It was really difficult to talk to her and fight off a huge guardian, but Dimitri gave me a lot of experience in the fighting department. I wasn't going to beat him until I put all my focus on him and I couldn't do that right now. "What?" Lissa asked panicked.

"The chair by you," I told her. "Throw it into him."

Lissa grabbed the wheeled chair and pushed it towards Reed. It got in the way and prevented him from getting to him momentarily. "Liss, you have to punch him," I told her.

"What? How? I don't know how to punch something," she told me panicked.

"You can do it," I told her. "Just ball you're hand up into a fist."

She unsuccessfully tried to get a few hits on him. After about five minutes, I could see she was tiring. That's when something truly beautiful happened. Reed grabbed her and Lissa elbowed him in the stomach. When he fumbled, she struck out and her fist collided with his nose. Blood spurted from his nose. Definitely broken.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," she cried. Oops. I may have forgotten to mention how much it might hurt to punch someone. I couldn't focus on that right now.

"You need to knock him out Liss," I instructed her.

"What?" She asked shocked. "Didn't I just do that?"

I shook my head. "No, make him lose consciousness. Hit him on the head with something," I told her.

I heard the crash as she did what I told her too. I gave Reed one last glance. "Good Liss," I told her.

I was surprised Avery hadn't said anything throughout that whole fight. When I looked at her, her whole face was scrunched up in concentration. I followed her gaze and saw Adrian. His eyes were locked with hers. I realized they were fighting a battle all on their own. But theirs wasn't physical, it was mental.

When I looked at Adrian, I stopped paying attention to Simon. That was a mistake. Simon hit the side of my head, causing stars to appear in my vision. I blinked, trying to figure out what was going out. I managed to block his next attack, but my sudden movement caused a buzzing in my ears.

Simon took advantage of my dizziness and picked up Lissa. He headed towards the balcony. I tried to stand up, but a sudden wave of dizziness knocked me right back to my feet.

I could only watch helplessly as Simon walked closer and closer to the edge of the balcony. Just as he was about to hoist Lissa up and throw her over, someone jumped onto his back, locking their arms in a chokehold around their neck. It was Christian. I had honestly forgotten he was here.

Simon dropped Lissa, thankfully not over the balcony. He turned in circles as both of his hands wrapped around Christians arms, trying to pry them from his neck.

Fire Christian, I thought desperately. Use your fire!

It was too late. Simon backed into the balcony. I watched as both of them fell over the balcony.

"Christian!" Lissa shrieked.


	41. Chapter 41

Suddenly, my injuries seemed inconsequential. Suddenly, the world was moving in slow motion. I looked at the injuries around me. Dimitri and Viktoria were still lying on the floor. Christian had fallen over the balcony. Lissa was staring at the spot where Christian had been standing moments earlier, a horrified look on her face.

While I was distracted, Reed recovered. So much for knocking him out. Normally, a moroi would not have been a problem to fight; however, I was at a point where any sudden movement made me incredibly dizzy. I was fighting a losing battle. For every hit I got on him, he got five on me. I was pretty sure I was sporting one or two broken ribs and a broken arm. My head was throbbing and the spots in my vision were getting bigger.

Just when I knew I wasn't going to be able to go on much longer, he fell to the floor. I looked at him shocked then looked behind him. "Dimitri," I breathed. "You're alive."

He nodded. "He knocked me unconscious. He didn't kill me," he told me.

"Th-" I started to say. I was cut off by Avery screaming. She fell to the ground, clutching her head.

I looked around, trying to find Lissa. I knew what had to be done. "Liss!" I called.

Her tear-streaked face looked towards me. "We have to go down Liss, you have to save him," I told her. She didn't need to ask who him was. She already knew.

"I don't have the strength," she told me. "But I can't lose him. I can't Rose."

"I'll give you the strength, but first you have to give me the strength. I need you to help me down the stairs Liss. And hurry," I told her, trying to stay composed.

Lissa looked at me oddly. "There's this weird invention Rose. It's called the elevator," she told me.

I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Only Lissa would find humor in this instance. Lissa helped me to the elevator and we began our ten story descent.

When we got to the ground floor, we walked as quickly as possible to where Christian and Simon landed. As we got closer, I could make out Christian's broken body. I saw him struggle for breath.

When we finally reached them, I saw Christian take one last ragged breath. I tossed my hair to the side and offered my neck to Lissa. "Quick Liss," I warned her. I didn't know how much time she may have.

She didn't need any further prodding. She drank from me. She drank more than she usually would have, but not enough to kill me.

I watched her place her hands on Christian's chest. I saw life come back to his features.

I don't know what happened next because I blacked out.

I was in Dimitri's arms. We were in our home in Russia. Some part of my head knew this was a dream, but another part of me wanted to believe this was real. "Mommy," a quiet voice said from the door.

"Come in Mila," I told her. She walked in. She was five years old. She had a head of curly black hair identical to her sister's. Tears filled her pale green eyes. "Oh baby, what's wrong?" I asked her scooting over to give her room on the bed.

She shook her head. "Where's Lera?" I asked her surprised. I rarely saw them apart when they were home. She looked at me with sad eyes.

She offered me her hand and I followed her from the room. We went outside to the backyard. Avery was there, holding my little girl. She had a knife in one of her hands. "Mommy!" Lera cried.

I saw Simon holding Lissa, but unlike last time, I didn't hesitate. When it was a decision between Dimitri and Lissa, I was torn. This time, I knew exactly who I was going to go for. There was no competition. My daughter comes first. I sprinted towards Lera, but I was too late. Avery plunged her knife into Lera's chest.

I turned around to see Lissa, lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Avery started laughing. I turned to find Dimitri. He would know what to do. When I turned, all I saw was his body, next to Mila's body.

Avery kept up her evil laugh as she walked away. Suddenly, I was surrounded by ghosts. Dimitri, Lissa, Mila, and Lera were there. They started talking to me. "You didn't save us," Mila and Lera said at the same time.

"You let me die. You don't deserve to be a guardian," Lissa told me angrily.

Then came the worst one of all. "I don't know how I didn't see it. You are selfish and immature. I could never love someone like you," Dimitri told me. My heart broke into millions of pieces as the ghost disappeared.

I was alone, all alone. I fell down to the ground, unable to get up. Someone was calling my name. "Rose! Rose!"

"Rose!" The voice said again, shaking me.

My eyes flew open. I was met with the jade green eyes that I hadn't seen in over a year. "Lissa," I breathed.

"Oh Rose, you're awake! I was so scared! You started thrashing about in your bed. I had to try to wake you up," she told me.

"Liss its okay," I told her. Then the events from last night flooded back to me. "Oh my god. What happened after I passed out yesterday? Where's Avery? What about Dimitri? Is Adrian okay? Did someone tell Olena? She has my kids."

"Calm down Rose," Lissa chuckled. "Firstly, Avery has been sent to the psychiatric ward in some moroi prison. When she started screaming, it was because she used too much spirit. When we knocked out Reed and Simon fell over the balcony, it went back to her and pushed her over the edge."

"So Avery's gone? That was quick. I would have thought it would take longer," I mused.

"Um Rose," Lissa said tentatively. "The attack wasn't yesterday."

I looked at her confused. "When was it?" I asked.

"You've been out for four days," Lissa told me.

I gaped at her. "Four days?" I asked confused.

She nodded. "Dimitri called Olena while you were in the operating room. I was too tired from healing Christian to heal you and Adrian was too exhausted from fighting Avery. It took too much spirit for him to fight her like that," she told me. "When Dimitri told her what happened, Olena somehow contacted your father. Moral of the story, everyone is currently in the waiting room."

I looked at her surprised. "Why isn't anyone else in here?" I asked confused.

"Well, I guess it's possible that the doctor told everyone they had to leave. When I refused to leave, I believe his exact words were, 'who do you think you are? The queen?' I may or may not have used a little bit of compulsion to convince him that I was allowed to be here," Lissa admitted sheepishly. "But I had to see you. I had to talk to you. Rose, I'm sorry for everything. For the way I was acting."

"Liss, it wasn't your fault. Avery was controlling you. I do not blame you for it. I'm just happy to have my best friend back," I told her with a smile. "How's Christian?"

A small smile came across her face. "I saved him," she whispered.

"Is he?" I asked worriedly.

Lissa bit her lip. She nodded. "Oh Rose, I don't know what to do," she admitted. "He's bonded to me. What's going to happen when the darkness gets to him? He doesn't have your self-control. He might actually light someone on fire and kill them."

I understood her fear. "I met a spirit user and her bond in Russia. They may be able to help you. Neither of them seem to feel the effects of spirit," I told her. Then her words came back to me. "I have self-control? Do you know a different Rose Belikov?"

She grinned at me. "I've missed you so much Rose," she told me. "Everyone will be so happy to see you're awake."

"When you say everyone…" I trailed off.

"I mean everyone. You're daughters are here," Lissa told me. "Dimitri wanted to introduce me to them, but I refused. I wanted to make sure you would be okay with me meeting them. I understand if you don't want me to meet them, I was awful."

"Liss will you shut up?" I asked her jokingly. "Of course I want you to meet my daughters. But I have one request first."

She looked at me curiously. "Can I talk to Dimitri alone? I have gone four days without seeing him," I told her.

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Of course," she told me. She hesitated before she left. "I hope we can talk later Rose, figure everything out."

I nodded at her. I couldn't say anything. I had my best friend back.


	42. Chapter 42

Dimitri walked into my hospital room. I had already moved as far to the side of the bed as possible so that he would be able to sit on the bed with me. As I expected the moment he entered, he joined me on the bed. "How are you feeling?" He asked me anxiously.

"A little sore, but I'm fine," I told him honestly. "I was expecting worse. How are you feeling?"

He smiled at me. "I'm fine now," he told me. "Lissa and Adrian healed your broken ribs after you came out of the operating room. One of your ribs pierced your kidney, but they took care of it. They didn't heal your arm or your bruises. They didn't think you would appreciate them using so much spirit. Especially after what happened with Avery."

"I'll have to remember to thank them," I muttered to myself. I looked up into Dimitri's chocolate brown eyes. "I thought you died when we were there."

"It would take more than that to kill me," he assured me.

I chuckled. I pulled his head down to mine. Our lips met in a passionate kiss. When we broke apart, I hugged him close to me, unable to bear losing contact with him. "I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered into my hair.

"I'm glad you're okay too," I told him seriously. "I thought you had died. You have no idea what that's like."

He raised one eyebrow at me. "After all the times you nearly died, I think I understand," he pointed out.

I shook my head. "It's not like when you're worried they might not come out of something okay. Because in that situation, you still have a glimmer of hope. I thought I had lost you. I felt hopeless and empty. The only thing that kept me going was knowing I had to save Lissa and knowing I have six daughters to take care of," I told him.

He held my face between his hands. "I will never leave you. Ever," he promised me.

I nodded at him. "Dimitri…" I started to say. I cut myself off. I didn't want to ruin the little time we may have alone, but I needed something. Badly.

"What is it Rose?" He asked me.

"I don't want to ruin this, our time alone, but there's something I really need," I told him tentatively.

"You want to see your daughters?" He guessed. I nodded eagerly. "That's probably a good idea. Mila and Lera have been asking for you for four days."

I grinned. He started to get up and my smile dropped from my face. "Don't leave," I begged. I may want to see my kids, but I didn't want him to leave.

He chuckled at me. "I'm not Roza," he told me. "I'm about to page the nurse."

"Oh," I told him relieved. A couple of minutes later the nurse arrived.

"What can I get you dear?" She asked me in a friendly voice.

"Can you send in our daughters and Queen Vasilisa?" Dimitri asked her.

She nodded. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she told me.

I smiled at her. "Thank you," I told her.

I stared at the ceiling while I waited for her to return. I couldn't help but think about my dream. Could my girls hate me because I was out for four days? Would they see it as me not being there for them?

"What's bothering you Rose?" Dimitri asked me worriedly. I quickly told him about my dream. "Oh Roza. We could never hate you. Lissa would understand if you had to put your daughter before her. She probably would expect it."

"He's right," a voice said from the doorway. I turned to see Lissa. "I wouldn't blame you. I understand you're a parent now."

I grinned at her. "Thanks Liss," I said. I didn't realize how much I had been worried that she would hate me for putting my daughters first until that worry was lifted.

She looked like she was about to respond, but she was cut off. "Mommy!" Mila and Lera sang at the same time. They walked over to my hospital bed. I picked them up and held them close to me.

"Hi baby," I told them kissing their foreheads. "How are you?"

They snuggled closer into my arms. "Hey do you guys remember Aunt Lissa? I told you all about her," I told them

"Ya," Mila said.

"Well that's Aunt Lissa," I told them, pointing to Lissa. "Lissa, this is Mila and Lera."

"You guys have grown so big," Lissa cooed. The nurse finally arrived with my other four babies.

"Sorry about those two," she said apologetically. "When I told them they were going to see mommy, they started following Queen Vasilisa. I didn't want to leave your daughters in the middle of a hospital hallway so I let them go."

"It's fine," I told her with a grin. "I missed my little girls. I was happy to see them."

I moved Mila and Lera so they were sitting in front of Dimitri and I on the bed. I carefully got up off the bed. It was time for Lissa to be formally introduced to my daughters.

I picked up Dana. "Liss, this is Dana," I told her.

She grinned at her. She spoke to her in a baby voice. I could tell she was already smitten with her. I introduced her to Sophia and Lika as well; she had similar reactions to them. I hesitated before I picked up baby Lissa.

"Liss," I told her hesitantly. "I want you to meet baby Lissa."

Her eyes filled with tears. "You named her after me?" She asked me. "Even when I was being like I was?"

"Of course," I told her. "You're my best friend. I knew that wasn't you."

"Oh Rose, thank you," she said, her voice ringing with sincerity. I handed the baby to her. As I watched Lissa holding baby Lissa, I just knew everything was going to be okay from here. Things were finally back to normal.


	43. Epilogue

I waited at the airport at Court, anxiously pacing. "Roza, you need to calm down," he told me amused.

I rolled my eyes at him. "I will not calm down until that plane is safely on the ground," I told him.

"We go through this every time they come home for a school break," Dimitri groaned. "Will you ever get over your weird maternal anxiety?"

"No," I told him. "Plus, it's not just our girls that we're in charge of today. You told Viktoria we would take Johnny and Kolya, and my mom wants me to get Anthony." When we moved back to Court, Viktoria came with us. For a while, she and Nikolai tried the long distance relationship thing. It really didn't work out for either of them. So about a year after she moved to America, Nikolai followed her. She and Nikolai got an apartment close to the house Dimitri and I live in. She wasn't planning on having any more kids, so when they found a two bedroom apartment, they were happy.

"I know. We're going to have a lot of kids in the house, but it's only for a few days. It was your idea anyway," he pointed out. "And like you can't handle it. We've had all nine of those kids in our house more often than we haven't."

"Hey," I argued. "Viktoria's on her honeymoon. Naturally we're going to let her boys stay here until she gets back."

He rolled his eyes. "I can't believe my baby sister got married," he said with a sigh.

I chuckled. "Dimitri, she's twenty-six. I don't think that exactly qualifies as a baby anymore," I pointed out. "She's eight years older than I was when we got married."

He rolled his eyes. "It was still too soon for her to get married," he said grumpily.

"They were together for almost eight years before Nikolai grew a pair and asked her to marry him," I told him incredulously. "How is that too soon? We got married and we hadn't even known each other for a whole year."

"Rose, you're not Viktoria. This is different," he told me.

"It's not different. They are in love. Let them be," I told him with a sigh. Dimitri is a little overprotective of his little sister.

He grumbled something in Russian under his breath. I chuckled to myself. "Seriously Comrade. Vika has nine-year old twin terrors. She deserves a little happiness in her life," I told him. "She had those babies when she was sixteen and entirely unprepared to handle them. She missed out on some of the best days of her teenage years for those kids. She deserves happiness after that. She's more mature than you give her credit for."

"You're right," he said with a sigh. "I guess I don't like the idea of my baby sister being married."

"Speaking of marriages, particularly ones that happened ten years ago," I said, completely changing the subject.

He sighed. "I'm still not telling you what I have planned for our anniversary," he told me amused.

I groaned. "Comrade, I hate surprises," I grumbled.

"You'll like this one," he promised.

Before I could say something back, I noticed the plane in the sky descending. I looked up at it eagerly.

A couple of minutes after it landed, people started filing off. There were a couple of guardians that were spending their summers working at Court, but mostly there were students coming home to spend summer with their families. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw two familiar faces running towards me. "Mom!" Mila said, giving me a big hug. Lera went for Dimitri first. Then they switched.

"How was school? Were the kids nice to you? Was Stan an asshole?" I asked.

Mila looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course Stan was an asshole. Why did you even have to ask?" She asked.

I laughed. "Oh I missed you so much Mila," I said to her amused.

"Guess you didn't miss me, huh mom," Lera asked, pretending to be insulted.

"Well if I didn't receive angry phone calls from Kirova every other day, maybe I would have a chance to miss you," I teased.

"Getting into trouble every other day? Now who does that remind you of?" Dimitri teased.

I ignored him, instead focusing on my quadruplets, making their way towards me. Lissa was walking with Cordin, Lissa and Christian's son. Lissa and Christian made up three days before I woke up in the hospital. Nine months later, Cordin was born. My Lissa is totally smitten with him. If you ask her about it, she will vehemently deny it, saying he's just a baby. He's only a little over a year younger than her. I just know they're going to be together when they get older. We can all see it. She's just too young to admit it right now.

"Hi Cordin. Where's mom?" I asked him.

He smiled at me. "Hi Aunt Rose. She's on her way. She called me to tell me she was running late so I should just wait with you," he told me.

"Of course she did," I said rolling my eyes. "So I'm guessing your sisters and brother will be joining us soon?"

He nodded. Lissa wasn't joking when she said she wanted a big family all those years ago. She is now the proud mother of six children. How she had six children in eight years is beyond me. She did have one set of twins, but still. Giving birth five times in eight years? No thank you. Cordin, his twin sisters, and his brother currently attend St. Vladimir's.

Dana, Sophia, Lissa, and Lika engulfed me in a huge hug. "Daddy," Dana said with a sigh. I chuckled. He really should know the drill by now. Every time they come home from school, Dana insists on one big group hug.

Dimitri bit back his laughter and joined our hug.

After a moment, we broke apart and the air was filled with everyone talking about school and what was happening. I noticed Lissa being unusually quiet. She was usually pretty talkative.

"Lissa, what's wrong?" I asked her.

She looked at the crowd of her sisters and her cousins around her and looked back at me. I got the message. She didn't want anyone to overhear. I walked a little bit away from our group, motioning for her to follow me. We were far enough away that no one could hear us, but close enough that Dimitri could see us. "What's going on Lissa?" I asked her.

"I think I'm getting sick," she told me.

I pressed my hand to her forehead. "You don't have a fever. What hurts?" I asked her.

"My tummy," she told me.

"What does your tummy feel like?" I asked her.

"It feels like something is crawling in there. I feel fine now, but whenever I'm with Cordin I feel all… weird," she told me. "I think I'm allergic to him."

I had to stifle my laughter. Oh I wish my daughter's would go through life believing they were allergic to boys. "I don't think you're allergic to him sweetie," I told her. "How about this? When we get home, you, me, and daddy can sit down in the kitchen and talk about what you're feeling, okay?"

She nodded at me. I was grateful that she felt she could trust us. Most girls would be uncomfortable with talking to their dad about being allergic to a boy, but not my daughters. That was a good thing, because I wasn't ready to deal with my nine year old and her relationship. Dimitri would know what to say.

Lissa and I walked back to our rapidly growing group. All of Lissa's kids were there now and so was my little brother.

I walked up to him. "Hey little bro," I said, messing up his hair.

"Hey sis," he said back to me.

As a general rule, we don't call each other by our names. Anthony says I'm too much older than him that he would be tempted to call me Aunt Rose. So, he decided to call me sis. I retaliated by calling him bro. I love having a little brother.

We had to wait in the airport for almost thirty minutes before Lissa decided to grace us with her presence.

"Off trying to make baby Dragomirs?" I teased.

Lissa rolled her eyes. "I can't very well make one right now. I'm already pregnant," she pointed out.

I grinned at her. "I know," I said with a small chuckle. "That's not going to stop you and Christian from trying though." Christian was a little behind Lissa. He was carrying there one year old daughter and his three year old son was clutching to his leg for dear life.

She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm lucky he's still with me after everything," she told me seriously.

"You know he doesn't blame you for what happened with Avery," I told her.

"Stop Liss," Christian warned. "I can hear your doubts."

"Stupid bond," Lissa muttered.

"Wait, that wasn't even what you were talking about?" Christian asked her incredulously.

Lissa giggled. "Don't elaborate," I said annoyed. "It wouldn't be annoying or anything to not know what's going on."

"I wasn't talking about what happened with Avery. First it was 'Lord Ozera impregnates Queen.' Then it was 'Lord Ozera forces queen to elope.'" She said with a sigh. "Poor guy can't catch a break.

"I don't know. My favorite might be 'Lady Ozera marries queen in private. Queen's family devastated.'" I told her amused. Dimitri, Jill, and I were the only people at their wedding. Jill assured Lissa that she was not devastated.

Lissa chuckled. "Christian was so upset after that article," she said grinning from a memory that no doubt involved Lissa having sex with him to help him feel better.

I chuckled. I looked at our kids as they said their goodbyes. "Come on guys. It's not like you're never going to see each other again," I told them. "You'll see each other practically every day."

No matter what, my children refused to see reason. Dimitri came up to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "You know they never listen to you. Why do you bother?" He asked me amused.

I shrugged. "Maybe one day they'll listen to me," I told him. He turned my head slightly so our lips were almost touching.

"I doubt it," he told me amused before he crushed his lips to mine. It was a short kiss. We knew better than to do anything else in front of our children. I looked back at our children. I wasn't thinking about how Lissa thinks she's allergic to boys. I wasn't thinking about how Lera gets into trouble with Kirova every day. All I was thinking about was my family. All of them. From Lissa's kids, to my brother, to my own children. They are all my family. They always will be.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! Feedback is always appreciated!


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